Of Common Blood
by Gray Voice
Summary: In an alternate 19th century, two women make their livings through organized crime, violence, and murder. But in each other, they find something they believed was impossible. Now they must find for themselves if their sins can be washed away. Luka/Miku, inspired by "Rondo of the Sun and Moon."
1. Chapter 1

Luka Megurine walked along the city street, passing by numerous run-down and occasionally deteriorating buildings, with three large men following behind her. She was wearing an elegant yet simple black suit and a silver rapier at her waist, with the others were dressed in kind. Normally there might be some concern from passers-by at this rather open display of weaponry, but the expensive look of the wielders' clothing no doubt put any fears to rest. It meant that they carried some form of authority, after all.

The group turned a corner and arrived at a large shop near the intersection. The store was in noticeably better condition than the other structures surrounding it, its windows well-polished and its stone walls free from most any cracks or fractures. _Panatteria di Zeperelli_ the sign above the door declared in bright, cheerful letters. In the windows dozens of breads, buns, and rolls were on display.

Luka opened the door and entered, the several men still following. Inside, a short, balding man was at a counter, wearing an apron over his work clothing. A look of shock washed over him as he saw the small assembly approach.

"Good afternoon, Signor Zeperelli," Luka said to him. She was composed and rigid, but spoke the words with a refined precision.

The man shifted his eyes around the room. "I suppose Don Marciano sent you here, then?"

"Who else would've?" Luka replied, a slight smile forming on her lips.

Zeperelli hesitated. "Could we please take this into a back room or something? You're going to scare my customers away."

"I think whatever customers you might get today can wait, Signor Zeperelli. At least, they can for this little matter."

The baker drummed his fingers on the counter. "And what matter would that be?"

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that you don't know?"

Zeperelli stayed silent. Luka sighed. "I'm sure you recall the little arrangement you had set up with Don Marciano?"

The man laughed nervously. "How could I forget?"

Luka smiled a little again. "How could you, indeed. But unfortunately, it seems you are guilty of just that." She reached into a pocket and produced several papers, which she slammed onto the counter. "You also recall, then, that you were instructed to purchase your supply of flour for the next year from the Orso Company, and _only_ from the Orso Company?" She spread the papers out along the counter. "I have here their receipts for this month, listing to whom flour is to be delivered to, in what amount, along with the price of each shipment." She leaned forward over the counter. "The name of your bakery does not appear to be present anywhere on these lists."

Zeperelli began to wring his hands. "Listen, you have to understand, it takes time to set up a business, and the price of Orso flour…"

"…doesn't enter into it," Luka finished for him. She continued to speak with an icy serenity. "The fact of the matter is, Signor Zeperelli, you had an agreement with Don Marciano, and in any agreement, both parties have an obligation to hold up their own end. That's a simple rule of business, any business. Perhaps," she said, looking around the nearly-empty bakery, "if you could recognize that, you would actually have a few customers _to_ frighten off. Do you understand?"

The baker opened his mouth, apparently about to protest, then solemnly closed it. Luka gathered the papers in front of her and pocketed them, then stood back up, reforming her prim and upright posture.

"I want you to know that Don Marciano does not grant monetary favors to just anyone. For him to grant one a loan is practically a gift in itself. One must show integrity and honesty, and must clearly intend to use the lent funds for a good cause." She meandered about the room briefly, inspecting the walls, the well-swept floor, and the foods on display. "You've done a commendable thing, Signor Zeperelli. This isn't the pleasantest part of town, but you're willing to add a bit of distinction to it, as well as another way for all the poor people living here to get their daily bread." She looked back at the baker. "So to speak."

"And I want you to know I'm grateful for everything the Don has done for me, and that I truly intend to honor it all, just as soon as-"

"Don Marciano is finished waiting," Luka said, her words like daggers. "He is a patient man, but he does not make his arrangements simply for himself. He must consider at all times the interests of his friends, his associates, and any other financial allies. And that is exactly why he feels the need to remind you of your situation. The Orso Company has done a great deal for Casa Marciano, and in return, Casa Marciano intends to do a great deal for the Orso Company. That is the stuff from which alliances are made, as I hope by now you are aware."

Zeperelli nodded again. "Yes. Of course I'm aware."

"But even then, the Don is not unreasonable. We had checked with the Orso Company several times over the past month, and every time, when we found no orders from you, we tried to remind you again of your promise. Or do you not remember the letters we sent you, nor the visit from Signor Kaito?"

"Yes, yes, I remember all that," Zeperelli said, his voice beginning to quiver. "Please, I… I just don't want any trouble."

"Neither do I, Signor Zeperelli. None of us do. But unfortunately, people sometimes make trouble for themselves." Luka crossed her arms. "You have shown yourself to be a very trustworthy client. All your payments have been on time and quite conveniently delivered. I want you to know we're very happy about that. But a simple loan was not the nature of your contract."

"And I'm perfectly ready to see out everything I've agreed to, as soon as I can!"

"Please see that you do." Luka put her arms behind her back and crossed towards the door. "The Don is a very patient man, but he does not appreciate people taking advantage of his good nature. You ought to take care not to upset him." She snapped her fingers, and one of the men next to her immediately drove his elbow into the nearby window, shattering it with a loud crash. Luka turned her head towards Zeperelli, smiling. "He doesn't take very kindly to bothersome customers." Luka opened the door and stepped outside the shop, her subordinates again following.

She walked back along the streets with an easy pace, yet still did so with a dignified air. She kept her eyes forward, not bothering to look around much. There wasn't a whole lot to see in this neighborhood. It was mostly the same sort of broken-down buildings, already fallen into disrepair after the somewhat recent attempts at urbanization. There were occasional spots here and there that had been renovated and made to appear somewhat respectable by some ambitious or even lunatic business hopeful. For what it was worth, they did help to make the district a bit more presentable.

Luka noticed a rat scurrying off into an alleyway out of the corner of her eye. The situation here wasn't too different from most of the town's, she supposed.

Going around streets like these wasn't a very pleasant task. Seeing the general decay of the area actually became outright depressing if Luka thought about it too much. But, sometimes, it was simply something that had to be done. Luka's Family found very good business in these parts of town, and if she was needed to make sure a deal is seen through, she was more than willing to traverse Hell itself to remind a client of his contract. The work wasn't particularly rewarding on its own, but its result always more than made up for the labors spent. For Luka knew, they were being performed in service of her Family, and of the _capofamiglia_ who sat at its command. The very thought of it made her smile.

"We don't have any other business today do we, signora?" one of the men behind Luka asked.

The woman turned her head towards him. "No, _messere_, that was all. The Don and his daughter both wanted us all back as soon as possible for supper. You know how they both are about tardiness for meals."

Another man laughed. "Sure, we do. Signorina Lily gets worse than the Don!"

Luka swallowed an urge to reprimand him. "In any case, we needn't worry about getting back in time. That was far quicker than anticipated."

"He was pretty smart about it. Smarter than most, anyway," said the first man. "Maybe that Alfonso guy we saw last week gave him a little tip?"

The third man gave him a little nudge with his elbow. "A little tip? That guy'd be luck to _talk_ once Megurine was through with him!"

All three roared with laughter. Luka rolled her eyes. This was hardly a proper display for _familiari_, let alone those belonging to Casa Marciano. But then, that was probably why they were still only _sicari_.

As they turned another corner, they saw a figure running down the street towards them. He wore another black suit, though even at this distance, Luka could discern its superior make. It was also a shade lighter than the black she was wearing, to better compliment the long blue scarf flowing behind the running man. As soon as he was noticed, his pace quickened. He stopped just before the group in front of him and bent forward slightly, panting heavily.

"Kaito?" Luka asked, her surprise readily apparent.

The young man before her immediately snapped his head up. His face was somber, perhaps even grave. "We've got a problem, Luka. Forgive me for interrupting you now, but this really couldn't wait."

"We're finished with the job, Kaito, it's all right." Luka's brow furrowed in concern. "What kind of problem?"

Kaito stood upright and looked Luka in the eye. "You've never been one to beat around the bush, Luka. I probably don't need to put this lightly: Don Marciano is dead."

* * *

"I'm glad to see you already removed the body," Luka said, standing over the Don's desk in his reading room. Everything other than the corpse had been kept the way it was found. Just below the armchair there was a wrinkled newspaper, and on the floor to the left of the desk was a broken china cup lying in a pool of coffee. On the desk still sat a silver tray and a metal pitcher, along with a few coffee filters.

"We'd already examined him," Kaito said. "There wasn't any reason to leave him lying on the floor like some hunted animal."

Luka knelt down over the puddle of coffee and took a quick sniff of it. "That's far too bitter to have been just coffee," she said as she stood back up. "I thought he would've been able to tell that."

"His senses were starting to fail him, I guess, quicker than he let on. It looks like smell left sooner than the others."

"Taste, too, I suppose." A somewhat trite portrait of a man in hunting gear on the wall nearby briefly caught Luka's attention. "Though then again it's hard to say if he ever had any."

Kaito smiled a little, his eyes still downcast. "He knew what he liked, is all."

"Do we have any idea who's behind this?"

"There isn't much to go on," Kaito said. "Nobody on guard says they saw anyone come in, but we found two _sicari_ dead in the hallway. Both had their necks sliced, right across an artery. Whoever it was, she knew her stuff."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "You know it was a woman?"

"I said nobody _saw_ the assassin, but she assaulted one of the house staff. She wasn't hurt too badly, but she's still a bit shaken from the whole thing." Kaito walked to the door. "She says she's ready to tell us about it. That's why I came to get you so soon, actually; I thought you should hear this firsthand."

He opened the door, and disappeared down the hallway. Half a minute later he returned with a girl in a plain white dress, wearing her deep purple hair in pigtails.

Luka approached the girl, smiling. "And what's your name, signorina?"

The girl was looking towards the floor, her eyes a little empty. "Rion Tone, signora."

"How long have you been working at the mansion?"

"Only a few months, signora."

"Has everything been fine for you?"

"Yes, signora, everyone's been most kind to me. It's been far better than my last job." Rion raised her head more, though she still wasn't looking quite at Luka.

"Can you tell me what happened to you this afternoon?"

"I'll try, signora." The girl paused, her nervousness almost palpable, and then began to speak. "I was working in the kitchen by myself. The others were busy cleaning, I think. That was the way we were scheduled, anyway. Then I remembered it was time to prepare the coffee for the afternoon, so I put some water on the stove and then put some grounds in it. After it had boiled a few minutes I poured it into a pitcher, mixing in some cream."

"And there wasn't anybody else around?" Luka asked.

"I didn't think so, signora. I couldn't hear anyone, anyway. Once I had the tray set up, though, I felt a hand over my mouth and there was… there was a knife just over my throat." The girl looked down again, swallowing. "Before I could scream, she spoke to me. I don't think I'll forget her voice, ever. It was sort of melodic, even… pleasant, as strange as it sounds. She told me not to move unless I was told to, and not to make a single noise. She brought me over to one of the cupboards, and then she tied a cloth over my eyes."

"So you never saw her face?"

"No, signora. It was a thick cloth, I couldn't see anything through it."

Luka nodded. It seemed their infiltrator really did know her stuff.

Rion continued. "After that… she told me to take my dress off. I just sort of froze at that, so she pressed the knife a little harder against my throat and told me again. So, I did." The girl closed her eyes and swallowed again, harder this time. "It was humiliating, but I had no choice. Anyway, that's… why I'm not in uniform right now, signora."

"It's all right" Luka said. "Please, continue."

The girl nodded. "Well… then she tied a cloth over my mouth, and then she bound my hands and feet. I guess she brought some rope with her. Then, she shoved me into the cupboard. I tried to get free from the ropes, or at least break open the doors, but I couldn't, nothing would budge. Maybe she managed to lock the cupboard door, somehow." She took a deep breath. "Then I heard a bit of clatter, and then the door out of the kitchen opening and closing. I don't know how long I was in that cupboard, but it must've been a while. It seemed like a while, anyway. The next thing I remember was the sound of the cupboard doors opening, and then Signor Kaito and some of the others freed me."

"And you're sure that's all you saw?" Luka asked.

"Yes, signora. That's everything."

"Thank you, Rion," Kaito said. "You've been very helpful." He began to lead her out of the room. "I know this was hard on you. You should take a few days off, to rest a little."

Rion looked up at him, smiling a little. "Thank you, signore. You're very generous."

"It's no trouble at all," he replied. The girl bowed to him and walked down the hallway.

"And that's all we've got," Kaito said, stepping back into the room.

Luka brought a hand to her chin. "It's strange. We have two_ sicari_ dead, but the assassin left the maid alive. She could've killed her and then we wouldn't have any leads at all."

Kaito shrugged. "She certainly wasn't above scaring her half to death. Maybe she just had some kind of vendetta against _familiari_."

"But there were plenty others here she left alive. You, for example," Luka said, gesturing towards Kaito. "It's more likely she just didn't want any witnesses, but she didn't feel right about killing a servant." She looked back at the fallen cup. "It isn't every day you run into an assassin with something of a working moral compass."

"It's pretty clear her target was the _capo_, in any case," Kaito said. "All the pieces seem to say she was part of another Family."

"The question is, which." Luka turned back to Kaito. "I assume you see the other problem?"

The man folded his arms, nodding. "Right. This assassin sure seemed to know a lot about the mansion. The layout, the maids' schedule, even when the _capo_ got his coffee."

"And the only way she could've known all that is if someone among us told her. So, it looks like we have another lead after all." Luka walked toward Kaito, slightly closing the distance between them. "We just have to find the rat in the house, and then make him squeal."

* * *

Notes:

I don't intend to use Italian in this story more than necessary, but I feel it's a useful way to establish the setting a little more as well as to add a bit more colloquial color to the dialogue. As much as I tried to make the meaning of each term clear by its context, I feel it'd still be easier to include a quick glossary every time I introduce a new word. Please note, however, that most of the language included is meant as a sort of slang among the characters, and thus not every term is intended to reflect its literal definition.

_Panatteria_: bakery

_Capofamiglia_: literally, "head of the family," _capo_ meaning simply "head" or "boss."

_Messere_: a formal means of addressing someone below one's social rank, similar to the archaic English "sirrah."

_Familiari_: plural of _famiare_, meaning "member of a family."

_Sicari_: plural of _sicario_, meaning "killer" or "hit man."


	2. Chapter 2

A young woman in plain black clothing dashed into an alleyway, her teal hair trailing behind her as she ran. She put her back to the stone wall, listening intently to the nearby street. There weren't any footsteps. Satisfied, she walked over to a nearby empty crate and stuffed the bundle of clothing she was carrying into it. She was glad to be rid of the atrocious thing, it had far too many frills for her taste. It was a little degrading to think she had worn it for as long as she did.

Miku returned to her earlier spot on the wall and reached into her pocket. She produced a small, empty glass vial, then quickly stashed it away. She smiled, pleased at how well she had done. Losing the vial probably wouldn't have been a fatal mistake, but it was her general philosophy that leaving too many clues behind was asking for trouble. In any case, one couldn't be too careful.

It was almost disappointing how simple this job had turned out to be. Certainly, it had been more demanding than most other tasks Miku had carried out, but she was expecting more from the grand old Casa Marciano. Still, she supposed, anyone trying this sort of thing again would probably have a far more difficult time. That Family must've learned to adapt somewhere down the line; if they hadn't, they wouldn't be as big as they were.

Moving back to the middle of the alleyway, Miku dusted herself off. She knew nobody was following her, so there really wasn't any point in taking her planned route back. Cutting out all those twists and turns would save time, after all, even if it would make her path a bit more obvious to an onlooker. But she had spent enough time on this job already. She walked back out into the street, a pedestrian or two passing by without a glance.

Miku briskly made her way down past the various shops and residences along the road. The weather was pleasant enough, but the lack of people around was making her a little uneasy. She didn't entirely like being in streets so empty. It felt too open - exposed, even. In a crowd you could fade away, or hide yourself within the masses, but out in the open like this one could only be noticed. Not that Miku feared being noticed. She wasn't one to worry over imagined watchers bent on bringing her harm. There was something less primal about the feeling; it was more like sitting in a chair that forced you into an awkward position than outright panic.

Her discomfort didn't last long, however, as she soon found herself before the gate to a fairly large mansion. A guard standing nearby eyed the teal-haired woman briefly before unlatching the gate.

"You're late, Hatsune," he said.

Mike gave him a little grin. "Well, good work takes time, you know?" Adding a bit more sway in her step, she walked through the gate, and the guard closed it behind her. Another guard opened the towering wooden doors at the front of the estate as he saw the woman approach.

The lobby of the mansion was probably its most impressive room, a design choice Miku always found a bit curious. The top of the room was lined by several stained-glass windows, each depicting an image of a dove in a different stage of flight. Below every window was a black tapestry, half with images in white, the other half with images in gold. The ceiling was almost as high as a cathedral's atrium, creating a sense of awe as well as giving the colored light plenty of space to shine in. The only problem was, as impressive as the whole room was to a newcomer, seeing it first meant the rest of the manor would only suffer in comparison.

Pacing back and forth in the back of the lobby was a young man with golden hair, dressed in a tuxedo. He snapped his head towards the door as Miku entered, then breathed a sigh of belief.

"That took far longer than it should've, Miku," he said.

"So I've been told," the assassin replied.

"Did you run into trouble?"

"No, Len, I just had to be a bit more careful than usual," she said. "I don't see what you're so worked up about. It's not like we're on any kind of schedule."

The blonde crossed his arms and looked off, scowling. "It had me worried, is all."

Miku smirked a little. _That I'd get killed or that you'd get found out?_ she wondered to herself.

"Anyway," Len said, looking back at Miku, "everyone else is waiting in the other room."

"All right," she replied, and proceeded down the hallway, Len following a little ahead of her. Eventually they stopped in front of a door and opened it, revealing a small room.

Inside were two women sitting at a table. One had short, green hair and wore a yellow dress, while the other sported an elegant white gown, and bore a striking resemblance to Len. Both looked up at the entering pair.

"It's finished, then?" the green-haired woman asked.

Miku walked in and sat down. "If it wasn't, would I be back?"

The other woman at the table laughed. "You're so mistrusting, Sonika. I would think you'd know that our Miku's more than reliable by now."

Len took a seat next to Miku. "This wasn't just any hit, Rin," he said to the other blonde. "She has a right to be a little skeptical."

"I always thought that was _your _department," she retorted. "We took a risk, but it's going to pay off."

"Do you really think we're ready to move ahead with this so soon?"

"That's the way we planned it," Sonika said. "The first blow has been struck. It'd be better to act before the enemy can fully come to its senses."

Len sighed. "You're right," he said. "But we ought to have done more damage with that first blow. We might've left ourselves too open."

"You honestly think they'll get back on their feet fast enough to act on that?" Rin asked.

"If they figure out it was us, they won't need their old Don to do us in," the male replied.

Miku gave him a cold stare. "I didn't leave any evidence, Len. They won't have anything to go on."

Sonika turned to face the assassin. "You're certain of that?"

"Completely."

The green-haired woman nodded, satisfied. "Her word's good enough for me."

"There's no guarantee that she didn't miss something," Len said. "I still say it's too dangerous to just move forward."

The room was silent for a moment. "Fine then," Rin said, leaning far back into her seat. "And what alternative does my dear brother have to suggest?"

Len took a breath. "The situation is exactly as you say - Casa Marciano is disoriented. They've just lost the _capo_ they've had for decades, and they're probably struggling to fill the void in leadership. Who knows, maybe some of them are even scared."

Sonika and Rin glanced at each other, conceding agreement.

"So," Len continued, "we should take advantage of this not by challenging their territory, but with another blow. We could easily cut off Casa Marciano's strongest arm."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "You're not suggesting-"

"I am," her brother interrupted.

The blonde woman laughed again. "I would've thought that even _you_ wouldn't bother to propose something so ludicrous, Len."

"If we don't take out _La Oltranza_ now, we're just asking for retaliation."

"Please," Rin scoffed. "You act as if she's a bolt from Olympus. We don't have to worry ourselves over a few horror stories the public spreads."

"Those 'horror stories' exist for a reason," Len said, a growing tone of frustration in his voice. "Everyone that has ever tried to threaten Casa Marciano for the past eight years had to answer to _La Oltranza -_ meaning, they all ended up dead. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that necessitates a bit of precaution."

"But the fact is, we don't know if one person really did all that," Sonika argued. "For all we know, Casa Marciano might've made the whole thing up to make themselves seem more fearsome."

"Besides," Rin added, "don't the stories say that nobody looks_ La Oltranza_ in the eyes and lives? How can we kill someone whose name and face we don't know? You're asking us to hunt down shadows."

"Then we find out who she is," Len growled. "Isn't that something our informant is supposed to know?"

Sonika shrugged. "If he did, he would've told us."

Len folded his arms and looked off, an unpleasant look on his face. "I'm just saying, if they have anything to go on, we're not ready to face them when they come looking for revenge."

"But they _don't_ have anything to go on, Len," Miku said, her voice angrier. "I just told you that."

"If anything, making another hit would only make us _more_ likely to be found out," Sonika said. "They're bound to have tightened their security after this. We aren't the only Family that will see this as an opportunity, and they're going to realize that they've been too unguarded."

"Well," Len said, "what if our informant talks?"

Sonika's face grew serious. "He won't."

"How can we be sure?"

"Because first they'd have to realize he's a traitor, and if they could do that, he wouldn't have come to us in the first place," Sonika said. "But even if they do find him out, he won't break. I can tell."

Len rolled his eyes. "That's a swell comfort."

"But in any case, we won't have to worry about being discovered yet." Rin leaned forward, resting her arms on the table in front of her. "We're going to knock Casa Marciano far off the scent."

A look of surprise spread across the other blonde. "You don't intend to move ahead?"

Rin smirked. "We're moving ahead, but in a much safer way. I don't want to fight a war anymore than you do, Len. You're right when you say we couldn't handle it."

Len looked confused. "Then, what's next?"

"Everyone in that Family wants to know who's the right group to take revenge on, and they want to know fast." The blonde's smile grew wider. "All we're going to do is give them a little shove in the wrong direction. Only they won't realize it until it's too late."

Realization washed over Len's face. "You want to instigate a war."

"More specifically, one with the wrong enemy, a bigger one" Sonika explained. "The benefits are quite clear. Should Casa Marciano win, they'll be weakened from the effort and we'll have a better chance of overpowering them. Should they lose, we'll be ready to take their spot in the wheat industry."

"And the best part is, the evidence has already been planted," Rin said. "Hasn't it, Miku?"

"I told you it was done, and I meant it," Miku replied, nonchalantly.

The blonde woman smirked again. "So now, we just guide them towards the bait."

* * *

The hallways of the Kagamine estate weren't very different from one another. There were few paintings or other such decorations along the walls, and there was very little to serve as any sort of landmark for someone not used to the layout of the place. The tremendous size of the manor only served to make it more labyrinthine.

Miku had gotten lost many times the first few weeks she had been living here, but by now she had more than learned to navigate its many halls. She found that, if she put her mind to it, she was quite skilled at memorizing maps, as well as learning how to create routes for any given situation.

Right now, her situation fit her usual route: the quickest one. It had been a long day, and she was eager for a bit of rest. Working her way through the mansion, she soon found herself at the door she was allowed to call her own.

The room Miku stayed in was not terribly luxurious or very large, but it was home. It served well enough as one, anyway. In the far corner was a small feather-stuffed bed, its sheets in a constant state of disarray. Against the wall across from the door there was a bookshelf, a few volumes taken from the manor library on its shelves, and next to that was a small window. On the other side of the room there sat an upright piano. Miku had requested that herself, though these days she found she didn't really get around to playing it much anymore.

The teal-haired girl walked into the room and sat down on the bed, the frame underneath giving a small creak from the new weight. She looked around, and suddenly began to think about how empty the room felt.

It was strange. All this time she had spent here, and she hadn't noticed how bare her own room was. Except, she couldn't think of anything that would make it feel more complete.

Her thoughts wandered to how the day had gone. Three meals, a few pages of _Heroides_, a job, and a meeting. Food, literature, work, and now, rest. How fortunate Miku was to have a day so full.

Yet somehow, she didn't feel very fortunate.

Miku felt a tear roll down her cheek. She was surprised at it, not completely certain why she should be crying. There was nothing to be sad about, not now.

She felt another one fall. Miku started to tremble, suddenly overwhelmed by an unidentifiable hurt. There's no reason to cry, she told herself again.

But, it felt so right to.

She let go of whatever reluctance she had before and let the tears run freely. It didn't matter, no one else was around. For now, she didn't need a reason for any of this.

Miku buried her face in her hands, her quiet sobs absorbed by the walls of the small room.

* * *

Notes:

Thank you all so much for the reviews, alerts, and favorites so far! It really helps motivate me to keep writing, but mostly, I'm just glad to see people interested in reading my work. Anyway, only one new term this chapter, but it's a bit of a doozy.

_La Oltranza_: roughly "the extremity" or "the excessiveness," though the phrase _ad oltranza_ (which I had more in mind when I used this name) means "to the death/bitter end" or "with a vengeance."


	3. Chapter 3

Within the gardens of the Marciano estate was a white chapel, its walls made of marble and its roof fretted with gold in an elegant design. It was not a particularly large structure, but it was more than enough to accommodate the twenty or thirty _familiari_ gathered inside. Above an altar at its front was a single, tall window of crystal-clear glass, sending glittering light shining down upon the open casket of Don Fausto Marciano. On either side of it were two other coffins, their lids closed.

Luka sat in a pew at the front, lost in her own thoughts as the murmur of the crowd went on. She had remembered being told that when you lose someone, you mainly recall the little things about them, the seemingly unimportant parts. Only, she couldn't remember many details about the Don. He was a busy man, and he didn't have much time to spend with Luka personally. It was only fair, of course. Whenever he could find a moment away from his work, it ought to have been spent with his own kin. Even if Luka was a part of his Family by title, the difference of blood would always have been there.

The crowd began to quiet as a young woman in a black, shoulderless gown stepped through the door at the back. Her long, yellow hair flowed behind her as she made her way down the aisle and onto the altar, where she stood beside the casket. Her icy blue eyes surveyed the crowd momentarily, and she began to speak.

"Friends, brothers, and sisters of Casa Marciano," she said, her voice clear and powerful, "I wish to give you my deepest gratitude for being with me here today, for you act in service not only to my father, but to the Family itself." She rested a hand on the casket. "I must admit that, even now, the thought of my father's death fills me with misery. His passing was untimely and monstrous, and it pains me to think on it. He was cut short by a cowardly blow, and two of our younger _familiari_ were forced down with him in service to their Family," she said, gesturing to the two coffins at her sides.

"As tempted as we may be to mourn and brood," the woman continued, "let me assure you that my father would have us do nothing of the sort. He was a man of action, and action we shall take. Our very stronghold was broken into, and we were stabbed from behind. This is a crime that we cannot let go unpunished, and these are deaths that we cannot let go unavenged. A Brutus has sprung upon us, and now we shall play Antony."

The crowd spoke hushed words of approval. The woman waited for them to quiet down, and then resumed.

"But with our prior head so horrendously severed, it now falls to me to lead you in this hour of darkness, and then beyond it. Though I am younger than my father was when he first took his title, I can assure you that the same passions and wisdom that drove his heart shall drive mine, for they circulate through my very veins. It is a heavy burden indeed that I have the duty to carry, but I promise you that I shall shoulder it with ardor so long as I draw breath. I know that none of you, nor my father himself, would expect anything less from their _capafamglia_.

"I say this, because I believe in my Family, and in the righteous path we have chosen to follow. Ours is a time of uncertainty, of instability and doubt. In only a few years, our beauteous Italy was grossly transformed by the hands that we had trusted to guide her. The fruits of her lands were made unreachable by a deluge of gold, and her people became desperate as their poverty only grew. It has been left to us to correct for the failings of our state, and to provide order for our fellow citizens. I am proud to say that my father ruled with this purpose alone, and I swear that I shall never let myself be motivated by anything less noble.

"However," the woman continued, "my leadership means nothing without the loyalty of the Family, just as a soul cannot act without a body. Therefore, let us commence our hallowed ceremony."

The audience slowly stood, one by one, each looking towards the woman at the altar. She cast her gaze about the crowd and spoke.

"My name is Donna Lily Marciano, daughter of Don Fausto Marciano, and I now seek to serve in his stead. Do you vow to serve, honor, and revere me as the leader of your Family?"

"We do," the crowd responded, in near unison.

"Do you pledge your undying allegiance to Casa Marciano, and to the new _capafamiglia_ who now shall guide its path?"

"We do," the crowd repeated.

"And do you swear to always act with the dignity, honor, and integrity of our homeland in your service to your Family?"

"We do," the crowd said once more.

The woman smiled. "And so I swear in turn, on my lineage and on the bones of my predecessor before me, to uphold the same honor that you would give unto me."

From a pew at the front Kaito walked onto the altar, taking a place next to Lily. "Hail, our new _capafamiglia_!" he shouted.

The crowd repeated his words, eagerness in their voices.

The blonde woman raised her arms. "_Itaque ego sum coronata_!" she declared in a booming voice. The audience cheered in approval.

The crowd then slowly began to disperse, with Luka still standing in front of the her pew. Kaito stepped down from the altar and approached her.

"Have you found anything yet?" the pink-haired woman asked.

Kaito glanced away and let out a breath of frustration. "Still nothing. At this point, I think it's unlikely that we'll find anything more on him."

Luka furrowed her brow. "Everyone leaves some kind of trail, Kaito. If he's responsible, he'll let us know sooner or later."

"Well, 'later' just isn't an option for us anymore!" The young man sighed. "We've got enough on Kamui already. He was recently inducted, and he's had plenty of unexplained absences, one of which was right on the day the Don was killed. I'd say that's plenty to justify holding him."

"And what if it turns out he _isn't _our traitor? Maybe there's some perfectly justifiable explanation for all the evidence we have so far." Luka crossed her arms. "I'm not willing to falsely convict one of our own just because we're pressed for time. Justice cannot be dealt until we are certain of the criminal, and if figuring that out takes longer that we would prefer, so be it."

Kaito paused. "You do think he's guilty though, don't you?"

"My instinct is that he is," Luka said. "But acting on instinct alone is dangerous. The path of reason will be the safest way out of this, just as always."

The young man rolled his eyes. "All right. I'll keep watching him. But he still may never slip up, and we can't afford to let him outmaneuver us just because we were too afraid of nabbing the wrong guy."

"I know that," Luka said.

"Then understand that I _will_ get a confession out of him, one way or another." Kaito's expression was deadly serious. "I'm willing to wait for more definitive proof to show up if it makes you feel more comfortable, but if that doesn't happen, I won't just let our prime suspect get away."

The pink-haired woman thought a moment. "Fine," she said. "But I hope you realize that if we're wrong about Kamui, we'll only be giving the real traitor a better opportunity to escape."

Kaito smirked. "He wouldn't get far. We've already got all of our contacts on alert, Luka. There's no way one of our _familiare_ could leave the city without us knowing where he was headed."

"If he was clever enough to operate under our noses and not leave any evidence, he might find a way," Luka argued. "It's unlikely, but it's still a risk I'd rather not take."

Kaito took a few seconds to consider this. "That's true," he finally conceded. He put a hand on Luka's shoulder. "But don't worry about it. I'll be careful."

Luka smiled. "That's all I ask. For the Family's sake."

The young man brought his hand back down, shaking his head in amusement. "It's really no wonder the Don liked you so much. I know he didn't show it, but believe me, he did." He turned around and walked out of the chapel, giving a quick wave as he went.

Luka stayed behind, still thinking about the situation. She couldn't blame Kaito for wanting to move ahead so quickly. The Don had been his uncle by blood, but their relationship was far closer than that. Luka always thought he saw him as a sort of kindly grandfather. It wasn't surprising that he would be so affected by the old _capo_'s death.

But it wasn't as if Luka didn't sympathize with her colleague. This wasn't just business to her, either. Though she hadn't been as close to the Don as she would've liked, she always had a tremendous amount of respect for the man, as well as a great deal of affection. It was almost unimaginable that someone within her own Family would be willing to be an accomplice to his murder.

She let out a long breath. Once this rat was caught, there wouldn't be any mercy for him. A simple execution would never be enough. There were practical reasons for it, of course, but there were rules above those. It was not by accident that Treason was the lowest circle of Hell, after all.

"Are you planning on staring at that wall all day?"

Luka turned to face the blonde woman who had appeared beside her. "No, Signora," the pink-haired woman said. "I was a bit lost in thought, is all."

Lily laughed. "Just because I took my father's position doesn't mean you have to be so formal all of a sudden, Luka."

"I'm sorry," Luka said. She looked at the floor, a little embarrassed. "It just seemed more appropriate."

"You always were an authority on etiquette. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two, now that I'm finally going to need it."

Luka smiled a little. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Lily. You knew this would have to happen eventually. I can't imagine that you wouldn't be ready for it."

"Maybe not as ready as I'd like to be," Lily sighed. She tilted her head, looking at Luka with a bit of concern. "How are you feeling about all this?"

"I ought to be asking you that," Luka said, looking back up at the other woman. "He was your father, and so much is being asked of you so quickly. I can't imagine how hard it must be."

"I'm fine, Luka," the blonde said. "It isn't easy, taking all of this on so suddenly, but I'll manage. I guess, in the back of my head, I was always trying to prepare myself for something like this, but..." She paused, briefly looking away. "When it actually happens, it's more difficult than you imagined."

"Please just remember that I'm here for you," Luka said. "We all are."

"I know that. And that's why you don't need to worry about me. I'm more concerned about you."

The other woman's face became puzzled. "Why is that?"

"Don't kid yourself, Luka. I know this is hurting you more than you let on. It's okay to open up with me if you think you need it." The blonde put her hand behind Luka's head, briefly stroking her hair. "You're too dishonest with yourself, and you hide so much from us. It worries me sometimes."

Luka closed her eyes. "Thank you. But I won't need to be comforted about this. I got over it once before, you know."

Lily withdrew her hand, a look of shock on her face. "Oh, Luka, I didn't mean to-"

"It's all right," Luka assured her. "That's the past. We need to focus on now, just as you said."

The blonde looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear that."

"It's only rational," Luka said. "You know I want him avenged just as badly as you do."

"Good," Lily said, her expression growing more stoic. "I meant what I said. I don't intend to allow this to go unpunished." A small smile grew on her face. "With you and Kaito here, I know it won't be. I couldn't ask for two better _cavalieri_."

Luka smiled slightly in turn. "I only wish to serve," she said.

"And that's why you're where you are today," the blonde said. "Your service to Casa Marciano has always been astounding, and you've helped the Family more than you even know. No matter what happens, I'll have faith in you."

The pink-haired woman nodded. "And I you, Lily. We are family, after all."

Lily took Luka's hand. "Yes. We always will be."

The two walked down the aisle and left the chapel in silence.

* * *

"Will that be all, Signorina?"

The shopkeeper standing in front of Miku was smiling, but the young woman could swear she detected a bit of impatience in her voice. It probably would've been warranted, though. The teal-haired girl had spent nearly ten minutes choosing from all the foods that were on display, lost in both the seemingly vast options and the excitement of the whole experience.

Miku looked over the items placed in her basket again, going over in her head whether or not she could really make a meal out of them. Finally, she looked up at the shopkeeper.

"Yes, I think so," she said.

The shopkeeper's smile grew a bit wider, probably in relief. She gave Miku back her basket, and Miku handed her a few coins, telling the other woman to keep any change.

Miku walked off from the stall, taking in her surroundings again. The market square was as busy as she'd ever seen it, with people bustling to and from the multiple stands and makeshift shops set up around and within its perimeter. She had been told that once, this square was even busier, which she didn't find too difficult to imagine. As full as the place seemed now, she knew that what shoppers there were barely sustained all the vendors in the marketplace.

There wasn't any particular reason for Miku's being here. All her meals could easily be provided for by the staff of the mansion, and she barely knew how to cook. In fact, she had spent a huge part of her salary on the foods she had bought.

But the fact was, Miku had wanted to try out shopping for herself, as well as preparing her own meal. Both would be new experiences for her, and despite their mundanity, this made the idea of them strangely exciting. Besides, she had wanted to get some fresh air and to be around a few people, and this gave her the perfect excuse.

She finished enjoying the atmosphere and began to weave her way through the sparse crowds out of the square, when a man suddenly bumped into her.

"Sorry," he quickly said, and dashed off.

Miku was about to continue on her way when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a loaf of bread the man was holding. A bit worried, she glanced down at her basket, only to find her own loaf of bread missing. Swallowing a bit of panic, she turned and ran after the man.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Get back here!"

The man, predictably, didn't respond, and found his way out of the square, Miku still pursuing him. He turned a corner and nearly crashed into a tall woman in a black suit, who was startled by his appearance.

He regained his balance and kept running, Miku still shouting after him. The woman, seemingly alarmed by this, turned and began to follow after the thief herself. Her stride was a bit longer than Miku's, and she quickly caught up to the the man, drawing forth the rapier at her side as the thief found himself trapped against a wall.

"How contemptible," the woman said as she pointed the tip of her blade at the thief's throat. "It's common thieves like you that are only making things worse for the rest of us." Her eyes were full of a quiet rage as she looked at the trembling man. "I suggest you give that back now. Otherwise, you're going to lose a lot more than a loaf of bread."

The thief, nearly paralyzed in terror, slowly raised his arm and handed the woman the bread. She took it, and gave him a satisfied smile, her eyes still burning.

"Good. But I'm not about to just let you walk away." She began to raise her sword. "Let this be a lesson to you and whatever other filth you might know." The woman swung her arm, driving the hilt of the rapier into the thief's head. His legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground, a bit of blood trickling out of his new wound.

The woman turned to face Miku, offering back the loaf of bread.

"I believe this is yours," she said.

Miku took the loaf back, nervously glancing at the subdued man by the wall. The woman gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, he's just knocked out," she said. Her face became a bit more concerned. "Are you all right?"

Miku looked back at the woman, about to reply, when she suddenly found herself unable to speak. The other woman's eyes were strangely entrancing, and Miku almost felt lost within their sapphire depths. The pink hair flowing over her shoulders was captivatingly lovely, and Miku was almost compelled to try to stroke it.

The teal-haired woman snapped herself out of it. She had no idea why she was acting so stupid.

"I'm fine," Miku finally said. She took back the loaf of bread and put it in her basket.

"It's a good thing I was here," the woman said. "He took the most expensive thing from that basket of yours. It would've been awful if he had been able to run off with it."

"I can take care of myself," Miku grumbled, fighting the urge to look back at the other woman. She sighed and, giving in, glanced back up at her. "Thank you, though. It's not every day a total stranger helps me out."

"It was no trouble," the pink-haired woman said. "But I'm being rude. My name's Luka Megurine."

The other woman glanced down again, a bit nervous, then looked back up. "I'm... Miku. It's, uh, nice to meet you." She looked back down, wishing she could stop gaping at the other woman like an idiot.

"Miku?" The taller woman looked off, crossing her arms. "Strange. I've never heard that name before, but... it sounds a bit familiar." She thought a few moments, then looked back at the other woman. "I guess it's just a coincidence."

"I guess," Miku said. She wondered why now she was so interested in the other woman's tall, shapely form, or why she was even noticing it was so tall and shapely. She tore herself from the sight, now focused on the still-drawn blade in the woman's hand.

"Aren't you going to put that thing away?" Miku asked.

Luka glanced down at her sword, then laughed. "Sorry," she said, sheathing it. "I guess it slipped my mind. I hope I wasn't making you nervous."

Miku shook her head. "No, I was just wondering why you still had it out." She looked at the hilt of the rapier, taking in the elegant wisps of silver at the end of its handle from a distance. "It's a lovely sword, though."

"Thank you," Luka said. "It's been in my family for several generations. I guess you could even call it an heirloom, but I still say a sword isn't any good if it's not at your side. There's no reason to seal it off in some family vault just yet."

"Yeah," Miku said. "I guess not."

There was a moment of silence. "Well," Luka said, "I suppose I'll be off now. Take care." She turned, and began to walk away.

Something inside of Miku flared up, and a sense of unease overtook her. Somehow, she didn't want this other woman to go just yet.

"Wait!" she called out.

Luka turned around, looking at the teal-haired woman with a puzzled expression.

Miku hesitated. "Maybe... you could walk me back home?" she asked. "I'm, um, a little nervous that there might be others like him about." She gestured back to the unconscious form of the thief.

"I thought you said you could take care of yourself," the taller woman said, still confused.

Miku looked up at the woman, her eyes wide. "Please?"

Luka thought a moment. "All right," she said.

"It's... not a problem, right?" Miku asked, a bit of nervousness welling up again.

Luka smiled again. "Of course not. I'm glad to be of service."

As she looked into that gently smiling face, Miku swore she noticed her heart beat faster. She shrugged it off, and lead the other woman through the streets.

* * *

"Is this it?" Luka asked, looking at the modest home in front of her.

Miku shuffled her feet. "It's actually a little bit further, but I can take it from here." She smiled at the other woman. "Thank you again for this. It... made me feel better."

"I told you, it's no trouble," the pink-haired woman said. She surveyed the other houses in the area. "Then I take it this is your neighborhood?"

"Er, yes," the other woman said. "I'm sure it's nothing compared to what you must live in."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's obvious you're of the nobility. I don't think a commoner would be carrying a sword, let alone one that elegant. Or be wearing clothes that lovely."

The taller woman looked confused. "Was that a compliment?"

Miku gave her a sly smile. "Take it how you like."

"Well... thank you, then." Luka still looked a bit bemused, maybe even a bit uncomfortable. "If that's all I then suppose I'll just be on my way."

Miku opened her mouth, but found she couldn't think of any other reason to make the other woman stay. Besides, she didn't want to make her any more uneasy than she probably already was. She looked down and nodded. "Yes, that's all. Thank you again."

"You're quite welcome, Signorina." The pink-haired woman turned and gave Miku a small nod. "Good evening." She walked away at a steady pace, then paused when she was almost out of earshot, getting another glance at the other woman. "Where could I have seen her before..." she said softly. Shrugging, she turned back around and made her way out of the neighborhood.

Miku watched the taller woman as she went around a corner. She sighed, somehow a bit disappointed at her disappearance. _I probably won't see her again_, she thought. _No matter._

Only, the thought mattered more to her than she could find a reason for.

She turned around and walked down the street, watching for the next alleyway she would have to take. The Kagamine estate wouldn't take too long to get to from here, but it was still far enough that the other woman wouldn't have any reason to suspect anything. She may have helped her, but Miku still couldn't afford to take any chances.

_But maybe, it would've been worth it for her_, she thought. For some reason, she felt safer around that pink-haired woman. Miku sighed. She would probably be going over this whole encounter all night.

The teal-haired woman turned into an alleyway and meandered down it, slowly making her way back home.

* * *

Notes:

This chapter came out a bit later than I would've liked... Sorry about that. I don't plan on making updates be so delayed, but a few things kept me away from writing the past couple of weeks. Anyway, a couple more translations.

_Itaque ego sum coronata_: latin for "and so I am crowned" (seemed fitting enough for a quasi-religious ceremony in Italy)

_Cavalieri_: plural of _cavaliere_, literally meaning "knight," though in this usage intended as a rank above the standard _sicari_.


	4. Chapter 4

"It looks like your proof turned up after all, Luka."

Kaito and two _sicari _were standing in front of a heavy iron door, the only one in the entire Marciano estate. It hadn't originally been part of the mansion, but once the former _capo _had started to believe traitors within the Family were becoming a real threat, he had ordered one of the spare rooms to be modified in order to serve as a holding place for such criminals, and it followed that the way out of the room would have to be made more secure. He chose an out-of-the-way room on the lower level for this purpose in the hope that as few visitors as possible would see it, as he disliked troubling his guests with the occasionally gruesome details that his job required. Luka had only been in the actual room once before, when at a young age she had grown curious about what lurked behind the iron portal. She wasn't entirely eager about having to see that room again, as she knew she would soon have to.

"So then it really was Signor Kamui all along?" Luka asked.

"There's no question about that anymore." The young man had a triumphant smile on his face, clearly pleased with himself. "The other evening I was made aware that Kamui left the estate a bit unexpectedly, so I took a couple of _sicari_ along to follow him. I don't think he knew we were trailing him, but he certainly made his route more complicated than necessary. If I didn't know this city as well as I do, we would've lost him for sure.

"Eventually he stopped in an alleyway, where there was another person waiting for him. They spoke briefly, and then he passed her a few papers. This looked like the perfect chance to catch them both, so the _sicari_ and I charged in. There was a struggle, but the other person managed to get away rather quickly. Kamui sure put up a fight, though." Kaito rolled up his sleeve to reveal a few bloodied bandages. "He brought a knife with him, though I guess he was too surprised to use it properly. We had to knock him out in the end."

Luka frowned. "All that certainly is incriminating, Kaito, but that doesn't add up to treason." She crossed her arms, looking at the young man sternly. "I don't suppose you have any hard evidence against him?"

Kaito's grin grew wider. "I thought you'd say that. Fortunately, I was saving the best for last." He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a few papers, worn and yellow with age. "When we sprung on him, there were still a few documents that he hadn't handed over yet. I'm sure you'll notice something they all have in common." He handed the papers over to Luka, who skimmed over them briefly.

"They're all signed by the Don..." Luka said softly.

The young man nodded. "To be precise, they're all personal documents of his. We can only assume everything Kamui handed over was, too. Whatever this other person wanted with them, I know it won't be for our benefit."

"You didn't happen to see what this other person looked like, did you?" Luka asked, passing the papers back.

"No," Kaito said as he re-pocketed them. "She was wearing a hooded cloak the whole time, so I never saw her face. I could only tell she was female because of her voice. From what I could overhear, neither of them used any names, either, other than mentioning the Don once or twice."

Luka closed her eyes, humming in thought. She looked at the iron door next to her. "I take it he's in there right now, then?"

Kaito nodded. "I worked him over a little, but all I could get out of him was that he really did betray us. I was hoping you could be a bit more persuasive in getting what we need."

"Very well," Luka replied. She took off her suit jacket and handed it to one of the nearby _sicari_. "I can make no promises, but I'll do my best."

"Don't you always?" the young man said. He nodded to the other _sicario_, who unlatched and opened the door. Luka entered the darkened room, shutting the door as she did so.

The trickle of light pouring in from the hallway was cut off, what little visibility remaining now only provided by a small lantern burning on the nearby wall. Moisture seemed to disappear from the air as Luka was overwhelmed by the scent of the room, one that reeked of age and dust. Near the door hung several whips and scourges, along with various blunt instruments, the metal ones rusted over.

On the wall across from Luka stood a stood a man in rumpled clothing, shackled in place by short iron chains that ended at the stone behind him. His purple hair spilled over his face and shoulders unevenly, multiple bruises and cuts showing across his exposed skin. He looked up at Luka, smiling as she entered the room.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," he said. Another bruise under his eye became visible as he shook the hair out of his face. "Kaito can't get anything done himself, so he sends his dog to fix things instead."

"You seem to grossly misunderstand your current position, Signor Kamui." Luka's expression was cold, her eyes keenly focused on the bound man. "If you are more respectful, I can assure you that this will be easier on the both of us."

The man laughed. "Even as a torturer, you're so formal!" he said. "Why don't you just call me Gakupo, Luka? There's no need for this uncomfortable politeness now."

"Your level of comfort is no longer a concern of mine." Luka took a few steps forward, now standing immediately in front of the prisoner. "I come here only to offer you redemption."

Gakupo rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I had a feeling you'd say that."

"Then you've already taken your first step," Luka said. "It is not the place of the Family to forgive you for what you have done, but you have the power to cleanse yourself of your sin. If you help us in atoning for your crime, then you may be redeemed." She leaned in closer. "All you need to do is tell me who you've betrayed us to."

The shackled man chuckled. "You're just asking me to betray two Families instead of only one. Funny way to atone, I'd say."

Luka closed her hand into a fist and quickly struck it across Gakupo's face, his eyes widening from the sudden pain. "It's disappointing that you choose to make this so difficult," the pink-haired woman said as she wiped the traces of blood and saliva from her knuckles. "I would have hoped that by now you'd know your duty is to Casa Marciano above all else."

"My duty is to my own family and to my homeland," Gakupo said, still wincing slightly. "This band of thugs never mattered to me."

His breath was cut short by a fist driven into his stomach. "You're too stubborn for your own good, Signor Kamui," Luka said. "For your own sake, I suggest you learn more quickly."

"Don't you even want to know why I did it?"

Luka paused, a small smile forming on her lips. "That's better. Please, enlighten me."

"You probably want to think I did it for myself, so I could profit from the Don's death, don't you?" The prisoner chuckled again. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but all I wanted from the start was to bring Casa Marciano down once and for all."

The pink-haired woman's smile dissipated. "Why?"

"If you could look past your zealotry for even a moment, you wouldn't need to ask that," Gakupo said. "Do you honestly think this Family is doing anyone any good? Half the country is starving, and your monopoly only drives wheat prices up. It's the one crop we still manage to produce in a decent amount, and Casa Marciano forces families to scrape together everything they have just to afford a loaf of bread!"

In one swift motion, Luka gripped the man's face, and slammed his head against the wall. Gakupo grunted softly as the impact was made, struggling to hold back the burning agony that was sweeping through his skull.

"How dare you even insinuate we do not care about the suffering of our fellow citizens." Luka's voice had dropped to a low, icy growl. "Our very code is to serve and protect this land and all within it. Our business is not exploitation."

"Well, your results certainly speak for themselves, don't they?" Gakupo lifted his head up from the crimson stain left on the stone behind him. "All this Family's done is make a bad situation worse. You'll never be free until you see that."

"And who are you to speak of freedom, Signor Kamui?"

The shackled man laughed. "My chains may be more obvious than yours, Luka, but believe me, they're a lot lighter."

Luka stared at him a moment, the prisoner not even flinching under her cold glare. "Yet you still refuse to rid yourself of them. How unfortunate." She drove her fist into Gakupo's jaw, and then into his ribcage, striking every weak point she could think of with as much force as she could muster. With every punch, the shackled man let out only a small grunt, as if to deny his tormentor the satisfaction of his pain.

After several minutes, the pink-haired woman finally stopped, nearly out of breath.

"Have you decided to see the light yet, Signor Kamui?" she asked. "All you must do is say one name, and you can reclaim your former dignity."

Gakupo slowly brought his head up, giving only a lopsided smile in response.

Luka's expression hardened. "Very well." She turned around, making for the door. "I hope that the next time you are given such a chance, you will be more willing to cooperate."

"What's the point?" Gakupo asked. "I'm as good as dead whether I tell you anything or not. _La Oltranza_ always claims her foe in the end, after all."

The pink-haired woman looked back at him, an eyebrow raised in surprise. "And how did you learn I carried that little nickname?"

"You just told me." The bound man rested his head back against the wall, grinning. "It's funny how you higher-ups keep that even from the _sicari_. Haven't you ever wondered what your superiors are keeping from you?"

Luka frowned in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Gakupo replied.

Luka stared the man down another moment. "Just remember one thing, Kamui: no matter how badly you may want to, you won't die a hero, because you will not die with honor. No one who brings harm to Casa Marciano ever dies with honor."

She turned back to the door, opening it and then stepping back out into the hallway. Kaito gave her a hopeful look.

"Any luck?" he asked.

Luka sadly shook her head, taking back her jacket from one of the guards. The young man sighed in response.

"Fine then." He motioned to one of the nearby _sicari_. "Give him a once-over, use whatever you like. There are a few tools on the wall inside."

The _sicario_ nodded and opened the door, stepping into the darkened room. Kaito shut the steel portal behind him and walked down the hallway, Luka by his side. Any noise that might have been coming from inside the room was muffled by the closed iron door.

* * *

"...and that's all that we have at the moment," Kaito finished.

Lily was sitting in an armchair, taking in the information the two _cavalieri_ were explaining to her. "So it appears Kamui was stronger than we thought. Shame we couldn't have made better use of him before he turned." She brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Still, I can't help but admire his resilience. It will be short-lived, but it's impressive nonetheless."

The blonde rose from her seat, walking over to a nearby wardrobe. "Although, it is entirely possible we won't need his help at all." She opened the door and pulled out a maid's uniform, its edges torn and ragged. "It appears our assassin was not as careful as we expected."

Luka scanned the dress from afar, examining its every detail. There was no question about it: the uniform belonged to Casa Marciano. The design was slightly altered from that of a normal uniform, the apron barely shorter than average and the sleeves frilled in a unique manner. The Family emblem across the apron's middle appeared genuine, though it would've been the easiest part to forge. Nevertheless, there was no possible way for it to not have been from the Marciano estate.

"It was found in an alleyway, not far from _Via del Passero_," Lily said, tossing the uniform to Kaito.

"That street's not far from Casa Rinaldi's territory," Kaito said. He examined the dress a moment, then handed it to Luka.

"It's most definitely the real thing," the pink-haired woman said as she ran her hands over the fabric. "How did you manage to come across this?"

Lily took the uniform as Luka returned it to her and put it back into the wardrobe. "A few _sicari_ were out patrolling, when they saw a young man pick a gentleman's pocket. They pursued the rogue, and he ended up leading them in between a couple of buildings, where the dress was lying in a crate."

"Sounds reasonable enough to me," Kaito said.

"But it doesn't add up," Luka said. "Why would an assassin capable of killing a _capofamiglia_ and leaving no evidence whatsoever behind make such an obvious mistake? Why not just take the uniform back to a home somewhere and dispose of it more effectively?"

"Maybe she was just overconfident," Kaito offered. "In any case, it doesn't seem as if she picked a bad hiding spot. A random alleyway near another Family's borders should've been nearly invisible to us."

Lily nodded. "Indeed. There's no reason to send _sicari_ out where another Family patrols, after all. We only stumbled upon the uniform out of sheer luck."

"That still doesn't guarantee Casa Rinaldi is behind this," Luka said. "For all we know, it was put there to throw us off."

"I don't know," Kaito said. "Planting evidence in another Family's territory is pretty dangerous. Someone caught stuffing a maid's uniform in a crate is bound to look suspicious to a _familiare_ that might pass by."

Lily sighed. "In any case, Luka's right that this isn't definitive. But at the very least, it's another lead." She returned to her chair and sat back down in it. "I want you both to continue your investigations, and to keep an eye out for anything that might point to Casa Rinaldi."

The _cavalieri_ both nodded and turned for the door.

"Actually Luka, could I talk to you a moment?" Lily asked.

The pink-haired woman turned back to her, surprised. Lily gestured to the chair next to her and Luka sat in it.

"Are you really all right?" the blonde asked.

Luka sighed. "I told you already that I am, Lily. I wish you'd accept that."

"It's just…" The other woman paused, thinking. "You seemed a little distracted just now. Is there something on your mind?"

"Nothing in particular, no."

"Are you sure?" Lily's voice was patient. "If there's something you want to talk about, I'm right here."

"I appreciate it, but there really isn't anything worth discussing right now."

Lily looked quizzical. "Really?"

"Really. Well, except…" Luka glanced down, searching for the right explanation. "I suppose there was something that happened the other evening."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was taking a walk, as usual, and I ran into a girl chasing after a thief," Luka said. "He'd stolen a loaf of bread from her, so I caught up to him and got it back for her."

"That doesn't sound like enough to bother you."

"It didn't. What's bothering me, I guess, is the girl herself."

"How so?" Lily asked.

Luka bit her lip in thought. "I know that I've never seen her before, but she seemed… familiar."

"Well, what about her, exactly?"

"Her name, for one thing. Miku, she said it was." The pink-haired woman paused, trying to plan out her next sentence. "I realize there's nothing especially peculiar about it, but it sounded like... like a sort of echo in my mind, I suppose."

"Didn't she tell you her last name, too?" the blonde asked.

Luka shook her head. "No, she was quite shy. I think she might've been a little nervous about telling it to a stranger."

"So, was it just her name that stuck out to you, then?"

"Well, there was also her appearance, I think. The long, teal hair, the innocent, round face, those big, shining eyes… Also, her voice. It was so melodious, almost musical. Then there was also her figure-"

"Is_ that_ what's bothering you so much?" Lily interrupted. A huge grin had grown across her face.

"What do you mean, 'that'?" Luka asked, confused.

"Oh, come on, Luka. You like this girl, don't you?"

The pink-haired woman's cheeks colored a bit. "Wh-What?"

Lily laughed. "You were practically _glowing_ just from talking about what she looked like! Really, it's all over your face right now."

"That's absurd," Luka managed to stutter out. "I was only being objective."

"I don't think anyone mentions someone's 'big, shining eyes' in an objective description, Luka," the blonde said, still laughing.

"I'm telling you, it isn't like that."

"So?" Lily asked, calming down. "Did you actually talk with this girl, or was it just love at first sight?"

"I _did_ speak with her, thank you very much," Luka said. "Although, it wasn't about much. We introduced ourselves, she asked my about my sword, and that's about it. She didn't seem very talkative. She didn't even say anything as I was walking her home."

Lily forced back another laugh. "You walked her home?"

"Yes. She was nervous about there being more thieves, so I escorted her back to her neighborhood to make her more comfortable." Luka crossed her arms. "I don't see what more you're reading into this."

"It's pretty romantic, wouldn't you say? Keeping your beloved safe as you both journey back home…"

"She asked for help and I gave it to her," Luka protested. "I would've done the same for anyone else."

"Certainly," Lily replied, "but this time, you enjoyed it, didn't you?"

Luka frowned. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"It's just that you're the protective type. You've always been so ardent about defending things, and now along comes this sweet, adorable woman who's completely vulnerable. If an army had come to kidnap her, you probably would've tried to fight them off."

Luka readied an objection, then hesitated. She thought a moment, and gave a reluctant nod. "All right. You've got me there."

"So, you _do_ like her, right?" Lily asked.

The other woman's eyes were full of uncertainty. "It's just… hard for me to say for sure. This whole ordeal is so confusing…"

Lily blinked. "What, because it's a girl? It's not like that sort of thing's uncommon, Luka. I've seen plenty of young ladies that I wouldn't mind having a romp on a mattress with."

"Lily!" Luka cried in shock.

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't let that get in the way," the blonde said. "If you're still unsure about this, maybe you should try meeting her again."

"I don't think it's worth that sort of effort, Lily."

"Are you sure?" The _capa_'s eyes had grown more inquisitive, almost piercing.

Luka let out a sigh of frustration. "I don't know. I'm not very comfortable with this, is all. I don't even know this woman, yet… yet I feel so drawn to her. It makes me feel so uneasy."

Lily smiled. "Well, what's the harm in talking to her again? You could just got to her house and get to know her better, couldn't you?"

"I never actually saw her home, though," Luka said. "She told me it was fine to just leave her in her neighborhood, so that's what I did."

The blonde frowned, thinking. "How odd…" Her face brightened up again as she looked back at Luka. "Well, I bet if you just looked for her, she'd turn up sooner or later. Who knows, maybe you two were _destined_ to be together!"

"I never saw you as one to believe in that sort of thing," Luka said.

"I'm not." The blonde leaned back in her seat, sighing dreamily. "But it still sounds wonderful, doesn't it?"

A small smile grew on Luka's lips. "If you say so, Lily."


	5. Chapter 5

The air was still as the sun began to sink over the city streets, hints of orange now beginning to spread across the sky. The typical heat of the day was starting to subside and the cacophonous voices of pedestrians ceased to fill the air.

Luka paused on a street corner, examining the watercolored sky. It was getting far too late to keep the investigations up much longer. Not that she was having much luck with them, anyway.

Perhaps she had started too far into the day to make any sort of progress, but after seeing proof that the facts of the situation weren't as impenetrable as they seemed, Luka wanted to continue along whatever trail the culprits had surely left. Lily had told her that she had done enough today and ought to just go home and rest, yet Luka just couldn't shake the feeling that something important – or maybe some_one_ important – was out there tonight, just waiting for her to come along.

Except, nothing of sort had turned up so far. Luka had checked with as many of her contacts as she could find, but most of them were unavailable this time of day. It wasn't entirely unexpected; those outside the Family had their own lives to attend to, after all, and as much as Luka wished otherwise they simply had to see to their own personal business before they could do anything extra. It was one of the drawbacks of not wielding state authority – you couldn't always force someone to talk to you without the official power of law, after all, even if you enforced that law far more efficiently.

Although, Luka's efforts hadn't completely been for naught, as she did learn about a secret poison dealer from a particularly filthy young man she found wandering about outside a store she had investigated. He said that they posed as a tailor's shop in the west end, but if she was interested in purchasing something "less ordinary" all she would have to do would be to ask for the manager and inquire further with him. The story seemed plausible enough, but the eagerness with which the man had shared it with Luka made her wonder just how useful of a lead it would prove to be. It was extremely rare for her to find a decisive piece of evidence from a complete stranger, after all. But in any case, the stores on the west end were all closed by now, so she had no choice but to wait until tomorrow to follow up on the unwashed man's words. Still, this gave her a chance to learn of any other poison shops before she went to visit this one, a preparation that seemed quite rational in these circumstances.

Luka sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed that there was little more she could find out today. She turned the corner, intending to return home, when she noticed a tavern on the other side of the road that appeared strangely busy for this time of day. Not that Luka was particularly familiar with the business patterns of such places; it was almost an unwritten code of _familiari_ not to associate with such distasteful establishments, and Luka spent all her life holding true to that law.

But, she did recall that sometimes rumors and other low-key bits of information were spread in pubs, their popularity amongst the common crowd making them perfect grounds for gossip to be exchanged at. And Luka still couldn't shake the feeling that she was still missing something today, something she just couldn't give up searching for. Maybe she would find whatever it was here, even if going in would be a slight breach of protocol. One couldn't always let the smaller rules get in the way of the bigger picture, after all.

Luka crossed the street and got a better look at the building. It wasn't in the best condition, but it still looked to be in better shape than most of the other structures around it. Perhaps alcohol was just a safe investment in any economic environment. There were only a few windows, but through them Luka could see a good number of people, all drinking and talking with one another as oafishly as possible. _La serpe cieca_ read the sign next to the door, a somewhat crude drawing of an eyeless snake above the line of text. It didn't seem to be a very respectable establishment, but then again, that would probably make it a better source of information.

The pink-haired woman opened the wooden door and stepped inside. The hum of conversation she had heard from outside turned into a roaring din that buzzed around her like flies, and a cheerful song on an accordion became apparent. A fire burned under the chimney at one end of the room, keeping the air warm and dry.

Luka scanned the crowds, trying to focus in on any one particular group that seemed to be talking about something useful, but failed to pick anything out from the swarm of gossip floating throughout the place. She looked about further, when suddenly she noticed a pair of familiar teal eyes staring back at her from a table in the center of the room. She froze in place, looking straight ahead at the surprised face that had been carved into her memory.

It was her. Miku was in this very room.

If Luka didn't meet with her now, she knew she would regret it. That, and she'd never hear the end of it from Lily.

The teal-haired woman's look of shock morphed into a sly smile as Luka approached. "Well, if it isn't my knight in shining armor!" she said. "I never would've expected to see you here."

"Nor I you," Luka replied. She gestured to the chair next to Miku. "May I?"

"Of course," Miku answered. Luka sat next to her as she took a sip of her drink.

"It seems so improbable, doesn't it?" Luka asked. "To meet each other again so soon, I mean."

"Yeah, it sure does," Miku said. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "You don't seem the type to come into a place like this."

Luka frowned. "Why not?"

"It just seems a bit seedy for someone of your status, is all," the teal-haired woman replied. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Well, yes," Luka reluctantly answered. "I only came in here on a whim, to tell you the truth."

Miku grinned. "I bet it was because you knew I was in here, wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Luka stuttered out. She dearly hoped she wasn't blushing.

"I think you can figure that out on your own, _signora_," Miku said teasingly.

"...All right," Luka said. The other woman seemed a lot bolder than Luka remembered for some reason.

The two were silent a moment, the noise from the rest of the tavern washing over them. Miku looked down at the drink in front of her.

"You know, I don't think I ever properly thanked you for yesterday," she said. Her voice had grown softer, almost timid.

"Not at all," Luka assured her. "You told me you were grateful for it. You don't have to give me anything else."

Miku glanced back up at the pink-haired woman. "Well, could I at least buy you a drink?"

"Um, you see, I don't normally-"

"Come on, it's the least I can do." Her eyes grew strangely hopeful. "Please?"

Luka hesitated, but found she couldn't fight the other woman's innocent gaze. She gave a little sigh. By this point the investigations really weren't worth continuing, anyway, so she might as well take some time to relax. Besides, it was only one drink.

"All right," Luka finally said.

Miku smiled brightly. She called over a barmaid, and gestured to Luka when she arrived.

"Just tell her what you want," she explained.

Luka thought a moment. "Could you bring me a glass of _dolcetto_, please?" she asked.

The barmaid nodded, and after a few seconds returned with a glass full of a crimson wine, setting it in front of Luka. Miku handed the barmaid a few coins, and the two were left alone.

The pink-haired woman raised the glass to her lips, taking a sip. Miku stared at the drink as it traveled upwards.

"_Dolcetto_, huh?" she asked. "Do you like that sort of flavor?"

"It's my favorite type of wine, actually," Luka answered. "I prefer a fruitier taste to wines, and I'm especially fond of this one. It's simple, and much lighter than most other varieties." She set the glass down, noticing Miku's changed expression. "You seem surprised."

"I guess I expected you to be more of a gourmand, is all. I thought I'd be paying for something a lot more expensive!" Miku said, laughing.

"A wine doesn't have to be complex to be delicious," Luka said.

"I don't drink much of it, so I guess I wouldn't know. Although, seeing _dolcetto_ again..." The teal-haired woman picked up her glass, lightly swirling around the liquid inside. "It brings back a few memories."

"What kind of memories?" Luka asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Not very pleasant ones." Miku took another sip of her drink. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought something like that up," she said, giving an uncomfortable laugh.

"No, it's perfectly all right. I'm not bothered by it, I mean," Luka added, hoping the other woman wasn't feeling too nervous. She momentarily contemplated pursuing the topic further, but another glance at Miku's downcast eyes instantly made her decide against it.

The ambient buzzing of outside conversations filled their table for another moment as Luka desperately tried to think of something else to say. Miku was staring through her glass anxiously.

"You didn't tell me why you were here," Luka said, finally breaking the tension. "I thought it wasn't normal for people to come to this sort of place by themselves."

Miku looked back up, smiling again. "I just wanted to go where some people are, you know? Getting out into a crowd every once in a while helps me relax, even if I'm not actually _with_ anyone." She paused, taking another drink. "But, I'm glad you came here. Somehow, having another person at this table, to speak with... it feels warmer."

Luka thought a moment, a small smile creeping onto her lips. "I believe... I understand. I've never even been into this place before, but it almost feels like home. Maybe it's because of you?" She regretted that last sentence almost as soon as she had said it. The last thing she wanted was to make the teal-haired girl feel as if she was overly attached to her; it would almost certainly make her less comfortable.

Much to Luka's surprise, Miku laughed. "I guess so. I've been in here plenty of times, but I never really felt as if I was having a good time until now." She was looking up at the pink-haired woman with a wide, almost glowing smile, her eyes cheerful and bright. Luka's stomach seemed to tighten up. She wondered if maybe the wine was bad.

Miku finished off the rest of her drink and set the glass aside. "You know, it's not all that late yet," she said, leaning over the table slightly. "Would you like to maybe go someplace else? Just for a little while?"

"Where do you mean?" Luka asked.

"Wherever we find! There are plenty of great places in the city, and I'd love to go to a few." Miku glanced back down, her smile fading into a more nervous expression. "That is, if you want to..."

"You already bought me a drink," Luka said, trying to keep the uncertainty out of her voice. "You've done more than enough to-"

"It isn't like that!" Miku interrupted, laughing again - Luka noticed she felt strangely relieved at the sight of it. "It's not paying you back for anything; I just want to see the city with you, is all."

The pink-haired woman looked off, anxiousness creeping into her eyes. "I... was thinking that I ought to go home soon..."

"It'll be fun, I promise," Miku said, a bit more determined. "You've liked being with me so far, right?"

Luka looked back at her, and any excuses she might've tried to form crumbled before the teal-haired girl's hopeful gaze.

"...All right," Luka said.

With a wide grin, Miku got out of her chair and led Luka out the door, the cool evening air embracing them both.

"So are you hungry at all? There's this street vendor that sells some fantastic _piadine_..."

* * *

Luka leaned against the stone wall next to her, patiently trying to catch her breath. The top of the bell tower of San Valeriano Cathedral, being well over three hundred feet high, had taken an especially tiresome climb to reach, but Luka found little time along to rest along the staircases due to the seemingly boundless energy of the young woman who had led her up them.

Recovered, she stood back upright, glancing over to the teal-haired woman standing by a belfry window.

"Come on!" she said, motioning her over.

Leisurely, Luka joined her by the opening in the wall and held back a gasp at the view before her. The entire city seemed to be spread out before the two of them, all the houses and stores becoming a vast tapestry of cast iron roofs and stone. Faint specks of illumination from the street lamps below joined together to create an artificial field of stars across the urban landscape, while above the light of a full moon pierced through the sky's cloudy darkness.

"What do you think?" Miku asked eagerly.

Luka took another breath. "...Magnificent," she answered, still looking over the vast network of buildings and roads in awe. "I had no idea that... from up here, it would..."

Miku laughed, her voice ringing through the air like music. "I thought you'd like it," she said. "I come up her all the time. It's my favorite part of the city, so it only seemed best to leave it for last."

"I must admit, I was amazed they let us in this time of night," Luka said. "I'd have thought the belfry would be off-limits."

"Well, I come up here a lot, so none of the pastors mind." Miku propped her elbow up on the edge of the window and rested her hand on her cheek, slyly smiling up at the other woman. "You still haven't said anything about the rest of tonight."

Luka smiled. "All right. It was wonderful, all of it."

The teal-haired woman's smile grew wider. "Really?"

"Of course. There's just so much to this city I didn't know about, and I'm truly grateful you showed it all to me. I never knew anyone could make a living off of eating fire in a public street, for one thing."

"I thought you'd enjoy that," Miku giggled.

"And I really must thank you again for that _piadina_. And the _cannolo_. They were both delicious."

"I'm just glad you liked them," Miku said, almost bashfully.

"So, I guess you really were right," Luka said. "I did have fun."

Miku nodded. "I'm glad."

The two looked back out on the night, each smiling contentedly.

"It's a lovely night," Miku said after a few seconds of silence.

"Yes, it certainly is." Luka chuckled. "It's funny. Whenever I see a moon like that, I always think of a story I used to be told."

"Really?" Miku asked. "Would you mind telling it to me?"

"Well, it's a bit silly, but all right." The pink-haired woman closed her eyes in remembrance, mulling over the tale. "Long ago, before the Earth or even any of the stars were around, there was only the Moon, wandering the skies by itself. It knew nothing but the darkness that surrounded it, for that was all it had ever been in. Though for some reason, it always felt as if something was missing from the sky, and was always saddened to see that no matter how far it traveled, it would find nothing but the darkness.

"But one day as the Moon journeyed, it stumbled upon something it had never seen before: right in front of it, there was a strange ball of light, blindingly powerful in the vast stretches of shadow. The Moon was confused, but found itself attracted to the other being, and almost unknowingly began to circle about it, trying to view it from every possible angle it could. Yet, no matter where the moon looked at the ball of light from, it was just as bright and beautiful as when it first saw it.

"The ball of light, amused by this display, introduced itself to the Moon, telling it that it was known as the Sun, and came from somewhere far away. The Moon was amazed by this, and wanted to learn of what this land was like, but the Sun would not tell it unless it was allowed to circle the Moon, so that it may learn about it as well. Eagerly, the Moon agreed to this, as it was amazed that another being would want to learn about something as ordinary as itself. And so, the two began to circle one another, bound together in a dance that neither quite understood, but both enjoyed more than they could ever have believed.

"But, after many years of this, they found themselves unable to circle one another any longer. For you see another being, one made of rock and water, appeared between the Sun and the Moon, halting their grand ballet. It told them both that it was called the Earth, and came from the Sun's home, where it said that they both must now return. The Sun, however, refused to, wanting only to continue its time with the Moon. Angered at this, the Earth moved in between the two beings, and said that it would not allow the Sun to live so closely to an outsider. And with that, the Sun and the Moon were separated, never again able to dance in the same sky."

"Wow," Miku said. "What a sad story."

"My parents used to tell me it every night the moon was out," Luka said. "I always loved it, even though it's so tragic. Though modern science shows us it's a little ridiculous."

Miku shook her head. "No, not at all. I thought it was beautiful. You tell it well."

Luka smiled again. "Thank you." She looked back out at the darkened sky. "It's gotten quite late, hasn't it? Will you be all right going home by yourself?"

"Oh, that," Miku said, laughing. "I'll be fine, really, I've done it before."

"Still, your house is pretty far from here, if I recall..."

"No, it's-" The teal-haired woman cut herself off, remembering where Luka had dropped her off before. "Actually, you're right. But don't worry, I could just call a cab."

"A carriage can get awfully expensive, though..." Luka said, thinking. "Would you be all right spending the night at my house? It isn't far from here, and I have room."

"Wha-?" Miku stuttered out, the proposition nearly leaving her speechless.

Luka raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, I just..." The teal-haired woman stopped herself, trying her best to regain her composure. "I didn't really expect you to offer me something like that, is all."

"If you don't want to you I could hire a cab for you, but I assure you it would be no trouble to-"

"I'd love to," Miku interrupted. "Really, I would."

"Very well," Luka said, leading the way back down the stairs.

* * *

"This is where you live?" Miku asked in shock, looking over the enormous mansion in front of her.

"It's been the home of the Megurine family for generations, yes," Luka said, leading the other woman through the towering iron gates surrounding the manor. "Traditionally, many of us have lived in the city here, but I'm afraid nowadays most of us have gone elsewhere. My parents and I were the last tenants of it, so now I'm finding it to be much too large for my needs."

"But despite that, you're still living in it?" the teal-haired woman asked as she walked past the steel doors at the mansion's front. The inside of the place was even more incredible than the exterior, with tapestries and elegant paintings lining nearly every part of the walls. "I guess you wouldn't be able to find a good buyer for this place, huh?"

"Well, that and I dislike the idea of giving up the family estate so easily," Luka said, following Miku into the main room. "It's the heritage of my ancestry. I can't simply turn my back on it because things have changed."

"I guess that's another way of looking at it." Miku meandered about the room, examining the various hangings on the walls. "So, is it... all right living here, then?"

Luka looked puzzled. "Yes, I suppose. I don't really understand why you're asking that."

"I mean..." Miku stopped her wandering, searching for the right words. "It probably gets lonely in such a big mansion if there aren't many other people in it, right?"

"There are servants and others who maintain the manor," Luka said. "It's far from being empty. Besides, I regularly meet with many... acquaintances." She mentally scolded herself for that last sentence. It was never proper to speak of one's Family with a civilian, after all.

Miku shook her head. "That's not what I mean."

"Then I'm afraid I still don't understand."

"Well, haven't you ever wanted something... more meaningful than all that? Something house servants and 'acquaintances' can't give?"

Luka shrugged. "I am quite comfortable with my life as it is. As much as I would prefer more of my family were here to share the mansion with, they aren't, and there isn't much use brooding about it."

The teal-haired woman sighed. "Forget it. It wasn't very important."

"Are you sure?" Luka asked, concern in her voice. "You seem upset about it now."

Miku looked into the other woman's deep, sympathetic eyes, and suddenly all her frustration seemed to vanish. "No, really, it's all right. I wasn't really saying much of anything."

Luka looked relieved. "Good. I was worried I might've offended you."

"No, not at all! But..." Miku glanced down, blushing. "...I'm glad you were thinking of me." She forced herself to look back up, though the color still lingered on her cheeks.

"I want to thank you again for this," she said. "It's very generous of you, giving a room to a near-stranger."

"Don't be silly," Luka replied. "I'm happy to lend a hand. I know you'd do the same for me."

Miku smiled. "Yes. Of course I would."

"Now then, shall I show you to your room?" Luka asked, extending an arm towards the hallway.

The two walked down the corridors in silence, Miku still fascinated by all the various decorations on the walls. They quickly arrived before an open door, a moderately-sized but luxuriously furnished room revealed through the opening. Miku dashed inside, immediately looking over all ornaments this part of the manor had to offer.

"If you need anything, I'm in the room just down the hall," Luka said. "I hope you sleep well."

"Thank you," Miku said. She sat on the large, curtained mattress, immediately impressed at its softness. "Good night!"

"Good night," Luka said, closing the door.

Miku lay back onto the bed, taking in her surroundings once more. It was strange. This room had a lot more objects and decorations than what she was used to, but none of them seemed to matter much at the moment. For some reason, she imagined the room would still feel full without them. In fact, even as she entered this mansion, the fear of having to stay in a horribly empty room seemed to disappear. For the past few hours, things had felt more complete than they ever had in years.

Letting out a yawn, Miku rolled onto her side, and drifted off into one of the most peaceful sleeps she could remember.

* * *

Notes:

_Piadine_: plural of _piadina_, a kind of Italian flatbread filled with various meats and vegetables, somewhat resembling a taco.

_Cannolo_: singular of _cannoli_, a Sicilian pastry, consisting of a fried dough wrapped around a sweet, creamy filling.


	6. Chapter 6

Light had been trickling through the window of the bedroom for several hours before it began to draw Miku's eyes open, slowly awakening her from her peaceful slumber. She glanced around the room, only beginning to drowsily remember where she was after a few moments of recollection at her surroundings.

Miku turned over in the bed, thinking back on the other night. It may not have ended as perfectly as she would've liked, but all in all, it had been wonderful. Actually, "magical" was closer to how it seemed in retrospect. The more and more she thought about it, the more and more she realized she owed it all to two qualities she seemed to have in excess: preparation and instinct. Of course, she knew she wasn't "prepared" for an evening out with Luka in the traditional sense of the word – their meeting last night had been a complete surprise to both of them, after all – but rather in that she had taken the time to better understand that strange first encounter they had. In the emptiness of her room in the Kagamine manor, Miku found herself drifting back over and over to the image of that beautiful, kind woman that she had stowed away in some corner of her mind. For some reason, the more subtle parts of her were especially clear every time she imagined her: the way her hair seemed to glow in the afternoon sun, the determined and refined way she always held herself (even as she walked), that caring light in her eyes that would shine whenever she noticed Miku was uneasy - somehow, Miku had memorized it all from that single meeting alone, and she realized that she wasn't thinking about those details so deeply out of a need for analysis.

She realized that the more she thought about them, the safer she felt in that small, empty room.

After so many years of serving Casa Kagamine, Miku had nearly forgotten what it was like to have another person serve as a sort of beacon for her, a light she could guide herself to. She didn't know why she felt that way so suddenly about a random noblewoman, but she didn't care. There was so much to gain, and so little to lose. After that first encounter, Miku knew, somehow, that they would meet again, and when they did she wanted to become closer to Luka. She wanted to be able to do something far more important than rely on her: she wanted to trust her. And she wanted Luka to one day be able to trust her back.

So, with the preparation finished, Miku came to rely on instinct, her more powerful weapon. It was almost fortunate that she had happened to find Luka again so soon, because it played right into that advantage. In truth, Miku had played the entire evening by ear, deciding to exercise far less caution than she first had and focus instead on leaving a pleasant impression on the other woman.

And from what she could tell, her tactics seemed to be working. Luka was hardly an unguarded woman, and Miku understood that in order to get closer to her, she would have to be confident and take action. Patience would have its place in all this – it always proved to be a most invaluable skill – but trying to survive on it alone would only cost Miku opportunities.

Of course, a part of her was still a little confused by the very nature of all this. Last night had been incredible, yes, but the idea of having so much fun just because she was with another person was still so improbable to her. Yet Miku knew by some hidden bit of intuition how it could be so. She couldn't quite put it into words, but she understood that no matter what she was doing, it would be better if Luka was around.

So maybe that meant things could become more bearable because of her. It wasn't a guarantee, but it was more than worth the risk.

A knock at the door brought Miku away from her thoughts. "Come in," she said, letting out a little yawn.

A young woman opened the door a crack, peeking into the room from the hallway. "Signora Megurine asked me to check up on you," she said. "She wishes you to know that breakfast will be served soon. I can take you to the dining hall, if you'd like."

Miku sat up, moving herself over the edge of the bed. "Thank you, I'd like that very much." She finally forced herself off of the feathery mattress and followed the servant out the door and down the hallway.

They arrived in a spacious room with an incredibly long table in its center, various shields and tapestries hanging on the walls. Seated at the head of the table was Luka, casually drinking from a cup of coffee. She turned towards the two women as they entered the room, smiling.

"You're just in time, Miku," she said. "The coffee is still quite fresh." She motioned towards the chair next to her, which the servant pulled out for Miku as she walked towards it. The teal-haired girl sat down, the servant immediately pouring her a cup of coffee.

"What would you like to eat?" Luka asked. "We have a great deal of options here, so ask for whatever you want."

"Just a croissant is fine," Miku replied. She took a sip from her cup, letting the warmth of the drink help wake her.

Luka nodded toward the servant, who gave a quick bow and left the room.

"I hope you slept well last night," Luka said.

"Very well," Miku said. "The room you gave was really…cozy."

Luka smiled, her eyes sparkling. "I'm glad."

"You'll have to have me over again sometime." Miku froze, a little shocked at the frankness of her words. "That is, if you're fine with-"

"It would be no trouble at all," Luka said, laughing. "You're by no means intruding upon my hospitality."

Miku let out a small breath of relief. "Good. Maybe I could even get a tour of the place?"

"I'd be happy to provide one," Luka said. "Though it could take a while, I should warn you."

"That's fine." Somehow, Miku didn't think she'd mind that. All it would mean is more time spent with Luka, after all.

One of the doors creaked open, interrupting the brief silence over the table. A servant brought in a tray, setting the plates from it in front of Miku and Luka. After a quick smile from her mistress, the servant left the two alone again.

Miku glanced around again, still a bit impressed by the vastness of the dining hall. "So, um..." She hesitated, a little afraid of the question she was forming. "Do you normally eat by yourself here?"

"As I've said before, I'm the only one in charge of this manor at the moment, so yes." Luka picked up her knife and began buttering her croissant. "I don't get all that many opportunities to entertain, either. That's why I'm so happy to accommodate you."

"I see," Miku said. "So, what are all your relatives doing now?"

"Most of them just took their fortunes and set up a business elsewhere," Luka said. "Of course, that meant leaving the country for almost all of them. Regrettably, Italy hasn't managed to benefit as much from industrialism as, say, America or Germany."

"Can I ask where your parents went to?

Luka's hand slipped and the butter knife fell onto her plate, the sudden clatter of metal on porcelain echoing through the empty hall.

Miku's eyes widened. "Luka? Are you all right?"

The pink-haired woman sighed and picked up her knife. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I probably should've expected you to ask that question sooner or later, but I still managed to let it catch me off guard." She set the utensil aside, looking Miku in the eyes. "My parents never truly left the manor. You see, one day... one day, when I was still very young, they were killed by robbers. A few of them broke into the manor, stole a few valuables, and stabbed them both when they crossed their path."

"Oh, Luka..." Miku suddenly found it hard to return the gaze. She almost couldn't believe she had tread upon something so personal. "Luka, I'm so sorry, I had no idea-"

"You have no reason to apologize," Luka said. "It affected me greatly, yes, but it was many years ago. Besides, I was not without support. A few…friends of my parents brought me up, and I learned to move past the incident."

"Well, that's good..." Despite Luka's assurances, Miku still wished she hadn't asked that. It didn't seem her place to bring back something so horrible, especially when she was still trying to work her way into the other woman's heart.

Luka picked up her croissant, smiling. "Anyway, I think that's conversation far too grim for breakfast, don't you?" She took a bite out of the roll, swallowing it before speaking again. "I'd much rather talk about when we could meet one another again."

Miku smiled, her spirits immediately brightening at the words. "I'm free tonight, if that's all right."

"That sounds fine," Luka said. "Actually, I believe there's an opera playing in town this evening… _Don Giovanni_, I think. If you're interested, I'm sure I could arrange for us to have a couple of seats."

"I'd love that," Miku said. She picked up her croissant and munched on it, a dreamy grin on her face even as she chewed.

"Very well. I'll make the necessary arrangements, then." Luka called a passing servant over to pick up the empty plates. "But first," she said as she began to rise from her seat, "there is some business I must attend to. You're free to stay and have a look around the manor, if you'd like – I'm certain anyone here would be more than willing to show you around."

"I'd much rather take a tour with you, thanks," Miku said. "And... as a matter of fact, I have some business of my own, now that I think about it."

Luka nodded, and the two left the dining hall, making their way back to the entrance.

"We can meet again here in the evening, if that's all right," Luka said as they exited the manor. "It would be simpler for me to arrange for a carriage if I did so from my own home, you understand."

"Of course, that's fine," Miku replied. "I actually like the old Megurine Manor quite a bit. It has a certain charm to it."

Luka smiled. "Certainly. I suppose that's another thing that's kept me in it all these years, even if it is a bit empty."

Miku smiled back, nodding in agreement. She didn't bother to mention emptiness was something she was gradually learning how to fix.

The two gave each other a few words of farewell and walked off in separate directions.

* * *

"Don't you think it's a bit early for this, Rin?" Len let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes as emphatically as possible. He was leaning an arm on the table in front of him, apparently trying his best not to fall out of his seat.

Rin shot her brother a condescending smirk. "I hardly think mid-morning counts as early for most of us, Len. Certainly not too early for business, anyway."

Len yawned again. "Sonika isn't here yet, and I don't think Miku's even going to show up." He sat up a little, his posture still slouched. "Admit it. You just planned it this way to irritate me."

"I have to admit it was a factor," Rin said, "but as much as it may surprise you, I have plans more important than annoying my younger brother."

Their banter was interrupted by Sonika hurrying into the room, a few papers clutched in her hand. She sat down at the table, setting the documents in front of her.

Rin turned to the green-haired woman. "Well?"

"It's just as I feared," Sonika said. "They have our informant, and from what I can gather, they've interrogated him quite extensively."

Len immediately sat up, a dark scowl on his face. "I knew it!" he said, pounding a fist onto the table. "I told you this was too risky, Rin! It's only a matter of time before they find out the truth now!"

"Maybe you should let Sonika finish before you jump to your inevitably bleak conclusions, Len," the blonde woman said, annoyed.

"There's nothing to suggest they suspect us yet," Sonika explained. "If anything, they're still playing into our hand. Our little ruse led them right into the evidence we wanted them to see, and one of our contacts tells me he managed to tell one of their investigators about our little tailor shop."

"All this smoke-and-mirrors play won't mean anything if our weasel ends up talking, you know," Len said.

"At this point, I think that's very unlikely," Sonika said. "If they haven't broken him already, there isn't all that much chance of them doing it at all. He's a strong one, and his delusions of martyrdom only add to his willpower."

"Besides, Casa Marciano won't be able to stave off their thirst for a traitor's blood for long," Rin said, her smile growing back. "They're bound to kill him off as soon as they're sure of the right Family to attack, and then we'll be completely safe. Dead men tell no tales, as they say."

Len stared at his sister quizzically. "So, are you saying our plan is to just sit back and hope they find Casa Rinaldi guilty?"

"We've already planted all the evidence and leads we can, so by now it really is nothing more than a matter of time," Sonika said. "Though should it prove necessary, we'll find ways of hurrying their investigations along."

"And I do have a safety net worked out should we begin to run into trouble," Rin said. She turned to Sonika. "Show him."

The green-haired woman nodded and slid the papers in front of her over to Len.

"Our informant managed to pass these off to me just before he was apprehended," she said. "He told me they might be useful to us, though I'm not sure he fully realized the power they potentially hold."

Len shuffled through the papers, skimming over them. "A few diary entries and some financial records? How are those going to help us any?"

Sonika frowned slightly in frustration. "You missed the notes on the _familiari._ Surely you could see the importance of those even while reading so sloppily."

The young man went back through the papers, finally pulling out a single sheet from the stack. His expression slowly became dumbfounded as he glanced over the text on the page.

"This... the name's on it," he stuttered out.

"Exactly," Rin said. "It's only in a passing phrase, but it does indeed mention _La Oltranza_. And it even goes on to give us a real name."

"One 'Luka Megurine,' so it says," Sonika said. "Quite an excellent choice for a _cavaliere_, really. Apparently she's been fiercely loyal to Casa Marciano ever since they started raising her."

Len blinked, still reading over the paper. "Can we really trust any of this?"

"Our informant assured me every document in that stack was personally written by the old Don himself," Sonika said. "A few even have his signature and his personal seal, which I understand he specifically made to be nearly impossible to forge. It's a stamp much too complicated to duplicate properly."

"The handwriting's certainly consistent," Len mumbled as he glanced over the other papers. He set the documents back down. "Would you like to tell me how all of this fits into any kind of plan, then?"

Rin's smirk grew a bit wider. "With those documents, we have the potential to drive Casa Marciano's greatest weapon against the Family itself. If it becomes necessary, we now can neutralize _La Oltranza_ without even sending Hatsune in to do the dirty work."

"A few old papers aren't going to halt a ruthless _cavaliere_ from cutting down her enemies, Rin," Len said.

"On the contrary, dear brother," Rin said, "these old papers can take away the very source of her ruthlessness: her loyalty." She leaned back in her seat nonchalantly. "Perhaps you should take another look at the oldest diary entry."

Len rolled his eyes but nonetheless picked the paper up and read over it. Slowly, a look of realization began to spread across his face, and he set the paper back down.

"I see now," he said. "This is despicable, even for old Don Marciano – there's no chance even _La Oltranza_ would follow his name if she knew about this. But why don't we just get her out of the way now?"

"This is only a last resort, if things go less than ideally," Rin said. "Signora Megurine could prove quite useful to us the way she is."

"Fine," Len conceded. "But if we get found out, it'll take more than an angry _cavaliere_ to stop Casa Marciano."

"Which brings me to the next part of our little plan," Rin said. "If we do in fact become suspected, all we have to do is find a scapegoat for them to feast upon."

"A scapegoat? What do you mean?"

Rin rested her chin on her hands. "Hasn't it occurred to you yet that I happened to schedule this meeting right when Hatsune is bound to be carrying out an errand?"

Len scoffed. "If you wanted her out of here, you didn't need to go that far. She's never around the manor half the time, anyway. Her leash isn't nearly short enough, if you ask me."

"You're not getting it, Len," Rin said, annoyance creeping back into her voice.

"Not getting what? That you took measures to talk about this without-" Len froze mid-sentence, the answer suddenly coming to him. "No. You couldn't possibly be planning _that_, could you?"

"I admit, it would be unfortunate to lose a most valuable assassin," Rin said, "but if worse comes to worse, it would be best to sacrifice a part to save the whole, don't you think?"

"I just don't see how you're possibly planning to pin the whole thing on her," Len said.

"It wouldn't be all that difficult," Sonika said. "We would simply have to meet with Casa Marciano, tell them she was responsible for the Don's death, and then give some motive as to why she would have to act alone. We could fabricate a bit of evidence as well, if we think we need it."

"Well, what if they see through that?" Len asked. "Don't you think they'd notice we'd just be trying to save our own hides?"

"That's just what we'd be counting on," Rin said, still grinning slyly. "In their minds, we'd be handing over the true culprit in order to avoid letting Casa Marciano mistake us for the guilty ones - it will give us a believable motive for handing over one of our own to them. We'd explain that it was a recent discovery and how she was very clever about hiding her tracks, of course, but now that we found her out we only want to help out a fellow Family."

Len pondered the ideas a moment. "It's riskier than I'd like, but it's better than nothing. They'd be thrown into instability if they lost _La Oltranza_, too, so that would give us a better chance." He frowned, his expression becoming uncertain. "Only, there's also the fact that Hatsune would expose us if we turned her over to them."

Rin laughed. "Come on, Len, no one would believe her. Who'd be there to back her up? Without us on her side, she's all alone."

The young man relaxed a bit, his face growing more content. "Yes. I suppose she is."

* * *

Miku pressed her back against the alleyway wall, keeping herself in a shadow as best she could. She realized she would be quite visible to anyone nearby that happened to notice her, but perhaps any passers-by would ignore her presence. Slowly, she peaked over the corner, looking out at the empty street nearby. Deciding it was safe, she stepped out from the wall and made her way down the street as casually as possible.

It was a residential area, but this time of day most of the people that lived here were at work, or perhaps out doing a bit of shopping. There might be a few still around that could notice her, but by the time any of them realized what she was up to she'd be on the other side of the city.

She stopped at a house towards the end of the street. There were a couple of windows near the front door, but luckily both had their curtains drawn. Miku approached the house, not bothering to crouch down as she moved past the windows, and made her way to the other side of the building. There wasn't a lot of space between this house and the back of the one the one behind it, but it was still more than enough to navigate with. Miku gripped the lower frame of one of the windows on the back of the house, testing to see if she could lift it up. Much to her surprise, she was easily able to raise it, the frame letting out a small squeak as it opened. It seemed whoever lived here didn't take Casa Kagamine's threats very seriously, seeing how he didn't even bother to lock his windows during the day.

Grabbing the stone edge of the windowsill, Miku pulled herself up and climbed through the small opening the window made, gently closing it once she was inside the house. She glanced around at the room she was in, a bit relieved at the small size of the place. It only meant whoever lived here would have fewer places to hide, after all.

Miku slowly stepped across the room, the floorboards under her making a bit more noise than she would've liked. She drew forth her revolver from under her dress as she came near the door, gripping it lightly in her right hand. Pressing herself up against the door, she took hold of the brass doorknob and turned it, the door slowly swinging into the next room.

A man somewhere in his middle ages was sitting in an armchair, an open book in his hands. He glanced up at Miku as she entered the room, scowling.

"What are you doing here?" he yelled. "You've no right to break into a man's home! Get out, now!"

Miku took another step into the room, her grip on her gun tightening as she brought it up towards the man.

His scowl quickly changed into a look of horror. "No, wait, you're... I told that bastard Kagamine I just needed more time! You can't just point a gun at me and expect me to come up with everything I owe him on the spot!"

Miku was silent as she steadied her aim a bit more. The man stood up, setting his book down.

"All right!" he said, his voice shaking. "I'll give him some of the money now, okay? We can call it a down payment, just give me a little longer to come up with the rest! I wasn't holding out on him, I swear, I wouldn't even think of-"

Miku squeezed the trigger and a shot rang out inside the walls of the small house. The man let out a scream, stumbling backwards over his chair as his legs gave way and his form crumpled to the ground. He raised a trembling hand up to his chest, dipping a finger into the blood trickling out as he looked at the wound in horror. Giving one final gasp, his head fell to the floor, the bloodied hand resting in the growing crimson river running down his stomach.

Placing her gun back in its holster, Miku turned around and walked back through the open door. Back in the other room, she opened the same window she had come in through and silently left the house.


	7. Chapter 7

_Confezione Gandenza_ was clearly one of the more prominent shops along the west end, occupying a space much larger than one might expect for a typical tailor shop, as well as proudly displaying several especially elegant outfits from inside the numerous wide windows along its street-facing wall. It seemed to command a great deal of attention from the central spot along the street it sat on, something that struck Luka as quite strange considering its alternate means of business. Then again, she supposed, perhaps it was relying on the practice of hiding its shadowy transactions in plain sight, making use of a mask of expensive, lace-trimmed charm over the more suspect one of an honest-yet-dilapidated establishment.

At the same time, such a front would probably provide a considerable amount of income, which no doubt was put to good use any time a suspicious policeman decided to investigate the place's criminal practices.

After a brief meeting with Kaito and Lily, Luka had it well-established that this store was the location most used in order to purchase poison in the entire city. There were always smaller dealers here and there, but none would be as reliable as an actual business, particularly one that appeared to have monopolized the trade over the deadly substances. If a Family were to stoop so low as to buy poison, this was undoubtedly where they would have done it.

Luka pushed the wooden door open and entered the store, two _sicari_ following behind her. Despite being just a little before noon, the place was already well-populated with sharply dressed patrons, either browsing through the outfits on display or holding still for various young men armed with measuring tape. Upon noticing the group's entrance, one such employee hastily marked down a few numbers on a paper and pocketed his tape, issuing a quick request for patience to his client before hurrying over to the several newcomers.

"Welcome!" he said, clasping his hands together humbly. "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Luka replied. "My friends and I are interested in seeing the manager. We have some business with him we'd like sorted out as quickly as possible."

"I'm afraid the manager is quite busy today," the tailor said, "but I'm sure I can assist you with any purchases you'd be interested in making."

"We aren't interested in any purchases you could help us with," Luka said, speaking a little more slowly. She wasn't entirely sure if this man was trying to follow some sort of protocol or if he genuinely didn't understand her intentions.

The employee raised an eyebrow slightly, putting Luka's doubts to rest. "Well, in that case, I suppose a meeting with him could be arranged, though given his schedule, it might take some doing to convince him to see you right away..." He coughed into a fist, then put his hand at his side and opened his palm upward in as subtle a motion as he could manage.

Luka swallowed a sigh of frustration and reached into her pocket, producing a couple of gold coins that she unceremoniously slapped into the tailor's small hand. He immediately pocketed them, smiling widely.

"I'll show you right to him then, Signora."

With a quick turn, the man led Luka and the _sicari _down a short hallway in the back of the store, stopping at a door at the end.

"I'll have to tell you of your arrival first, I'm afraid," the tailor said. "Please wait a moment."

He knocked on the door twice and entered, closing it behind him. After around a minute, he emerged back out into the hallway, his hands clasped together again.

"My apologies, Signora, but Signor Gandenza insists that only one person may see him at a time."

Luka rolled her eyes. She had planned on being able to use the two _sicari_ with her as an additional display of force, which she had hoped would help to loosen the manager's tongue a bit. Nonetheless, she knew that this was only a convenience on her part. No aid would be necessary for her, even though it tended to make things go more smoothly.

"Very well," Luka said. She motioned her companions to stay put and entered the manager's room.

Sitting at a desk the back of the room was a gray-haired, bespectacled man vigorously filling out several sheets of paper with a long-feathered quill. He looked up at Luka as she approached, setting his utensil aside.

"Good day to you, Signora," he said, a smile on his face. "My assistant tells me you are here because you have some business with me?"

"That's correct," Luka said. As she came closer to the manager, she found his smile more distasteful, somehow. There was an air of falsity and greed about it, as if he were hiding a thousand tricks and intentions behind those curved lips. "I understand you sell several varieties of poison to those that specifically seek you out."

The man titled his head slightly, his expression unchanged. "And where did you learn of something as peculiar as that?"

"I have my sources."

"I see." He began scratching his nose with a finger. "Are you interested in acquiring anything in particular?"

"All I'm interested in is knowing to whom you've sold any such substances recently."

The manager laughed. "My apologies, Signora, but I simply cannot give out information of that kind. It would violate a special sort of trust my customers have with me, and that's very bad for this brand of business, you understand. My clients have a great inclination towards remaining anonymous, as I'm sure you can figure out."

"Perhaps I should make myself clearer," Luka said. She stepped up to the desk and set a hand down onto it. "I represent a certain Family that has recently lost a rather beloved member, who was murdered by a currently unknown party."

"My condolences," the manager said.

"They are unneeded. The weapon used was none other than poison – white arsenic, from what we can tell." Luka leaned forward slightly, narrowing her stare into the manager's eyes. "As you can imagine, I'd very much like to know to whom you've sold that variety in the past few months."

The old man appeared unfazed. "Well, I can tell you I don't sell that particular variety for cheap. It's rather difficult to come by these days, and I have to make some profit, don't I?"

"As charming as your hints may be," Luka said, "I want names, and I want them now."

"I must say, whoever your saboteur was, he certainly had a good eye for poisons," the manager continued. "White arsenic is barely detectable once dissolved, after all. The irony is, if there's any of the poisoned drink left, the lack of presence gives the type away, doesn't it?"

Luka leaned far over the desk and gripped the old man's collar in both hands, slightly raising him out of his chair. "I should think someone in your line of work ought to understand not to test the patience of a _familiare_, Signor." Her voice had gone cold, and her glare pierced into the man's eyes like icy needles.

The manager flinched, his smile finally breaking for just a moment. "Fine," he said. "I only sold white arsenic to one person in the past four months. He never gave me a name, but I was told to deliver the product to Don Emilio Rinaldi."

"Who else was there?"

"I told you, that was the only one," the manager said, a bit forcefully. "It's an incredibly expensive poison, and most buyers are content with the cheaper varieties. I haven't sold arsenic to a Family in years, so don't bother asking about my earlier sales."

Luka's grip relaxed a bit. "Your word alone doesn't strike me as very trustworthy. I want to see proof of this."

The manager grinned. "What a cruel thing to say, Signora. Surely you don't doubt my honest intentions?"

"Even if I didn't, I can't afford to be careless."

"Well, I'm afraid my word is going to have to be good enough for you," the old man chuckled. "I've already breached protocol simply by telling you of a customer's transactions, you see. I simply can't afford to show my financial records to every _familiare_ that comes in here, even if they all acted as... forcefully as you."

Luka hesitated. As much as she didn't like the look of the old man, she found it difficult to think of a reason as to why he'd lie about this. Besides, she wasn't entirely comfortable with trying to extract anything else out of him. He appeared rather frail, and it wouldn't do to leave a trail of bodies in the wake of an investigation.

After a moment, Luka released the manager from her grip and stood back upright. "Very well, then," she said. "I thank you for your cooperation, as little as as you gave."

"Always happy to aid the _familairi_," the manager said, readjusting his shirt.

"Just remember," Luka said as she opened the door out, "if we return, we'll expect far better out of you. I hope you revise your business policies before then."

With a quick turn, she stepped back out into the hallway, the two _sicari_ following her out of the store.

* * *

"So, what did you think of it?" Luka asked, turning slightly to better face Miku. The two were sitting next to one another in the back seat of a cab, the vehicle bouncing slightly as it was pulled along the cobblestone road.

"It was wonderful," Miku said. "I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in a theater."

"Neither can I," Luka said. "And the score was phenomenal as well."

"What else would you expect from Mozart? Though, I did find that one soprano tended to sing a few flat notes."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought everyone was perfectly on key."

"It wasn't terribly noticeable, but it was there. She never went off by more than fifty cents, I think, but it stood out from the rest of the ensemble."

The pink-haired woman smiled. "I never realized you had such a good ear for music."

"I studied it a while some years before," Miku said. "Though, I haven't found the time to take it up again."

"Was it just musical theory, then?"

"No, I played the piano. I guess I can just naturally sort out pitches from one another."

"Did you ever sing?" Luka asked.

"A little," Miku said. "Only enough to get a better idea of whatever song I was playing."

"Really?" Luka frowned, looking off. "That's surprising."

"How so?" Miku asked.

"Well..." Luka turned back to Miku, her lips now slightly upturned. "You have such a beautiful voice, is all."

Miku's eyes widened, her cheeks suddenly growing warm. "Th-thank you..." The shining words spread throughout her like the heat of a fire on a snowy day, setting her spirits alight, yet they twisted her stomach into an uncomfortable knot. "But anyway," she hastily said, hoping to distract her nervousness, "that was a really compelling plot, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't think I'd go that far," Luka said, "but it certainly was entertaining. I never imagined a nobleman so thoroughly abusing his station could be so strangely charming."

Miku laughed. "His downfall was even a little tragic, I thought. Refusing to see the error of his ways and ending up damned, you know."

"Well, it seemed to me to be pretty fitting," Luka said. "He had to pay for his crimes somehow, after all."

The trotting of hooves against stone filled the air as the two were silent. Miku looked out the window into the night sky, noticing the still-full moon.

"Say, Luka," she said, an impulse filling her. "Have you ever... thought about what happens after death?"

The pink-haired woman chuckled. "That's a pretty strange shift in topic. Did seeing Don Giovanni in hellfire get you to start thinking piously?"

"No, I've just been thinking about... alternatives."

"Alternatives?" Luka asked. "Do you mean other ideas about it?"

"Yes," Miku said, turning back to Luka. "Have you ever heard of reincarnation?"

"You mean that eastern belief? I'm not terribly familiar with it, to be honest."

"It's the idea that after death, the soul is born again, into another person," Miku explained. "But from what I understand, it's possible to remember things from your past life, like who you spent it with and who you were. It's even possible to recognize people you knew from your past life in this one."

Luka hummed in thought. "That's an interesting concept," she said. "Do you actually believe any of it?"

"I've been considering it, is all," Miku said, shrugging. "But it just makes sense to me, somehow. I mean, when I look at you..." She hesitated, swallowing a bit of uncertainty. "When I look at you, I feel as if I know you."

"But you do know me," Luka said, a little confused.

Miku shook her head. "That's not what I mean. It's as if I've known you longer than I actually have, I think. When I'm with you, I just feel... comfortable. Am I making sense?" She asked, looking up at Luka hopefully.

"A little," Luka admitted after a moment's thought, "but I find it a little far-fetched to explain that feeling with a foreign religion."

"Then, it doesn't bother you?" Miku asked. "I mean, we only met each other a couple days ago, and I feel as if this is a bit unnatural." She desperately hoped her tone would portray how honest those words were. As intimidating as they might have been at times, Miku had no intention of hiding away from her feelings for the other woman. Even together in the cramped cab, she wanted to feel closer to the pink-haired woman, the impenetrable aura hanging around her like an ocean placed between them.

To Miku's relief, Luka smiled, her eyes filled with a serene kindness. "Don't be silly. All our time together has meant a lot to me, Miku. You've let me enjoy myself far more than I can ever remember."

The teal-haired girl looked at her knees, grinning sheepishly. "Thank you, Luka. That means a lot to me."

"It's the truth," Luka said. "I'm really glad I met you, and it's because of who you are. I don't need superstition to justify that."

Miku gave a quiet laugh. "You're right, of course. I guess the ending to that show got to me, is all."

"Well, a villainous man plunged in hellfire is bound to do that," Luka said, chuckling a little in turn. "Along with that epilogue. I don't think I've ever had an ensemble urge me to be penitent so humorously." She leaned back a little in her seat, calmly smiling over at Miku. "It's all the more funny given we've nothing to repent for, isn't it?."

Miku tried her best to meet the other woman's gaze, but couldn't bring herself to. "Right," she said, doing her best to keep up her smile. "Nothing at all."

* * *

The parlor of the Megurine manor was far more sparsely decorated than the rest of the rooms, but it more than made up for it by the sheer grandness the place presented itself with. It was incredibly spacious, even by the mansion's previous standards, with several, elegant coffee tables tastefully littered about and each one flanked by two wide couches. Alongside a nearby wall stood an old grandfather clock, and in a far corner a grand piano was gathering dust. At the far end of the room, two tall windows let the burgeoning starlight of the evening seep into the space.

Miku followed Luka in, a little astonished by the luxurious ambience. "You brought me here yesterday but you never showed me _this_ room?" she asked.

"You seemed tired then," Luka said, sitting down on one of the nearby sofas. "There wasn't much need to show you a single room if you wouldn't be using it."

"I guess you're right," Miku laughed. She stepped further into the room, finally sitting at a couch across from Luka. "Still, this place is just fantastic."

Luka smiled. "I actually spend a whole lot of time here. I find it makes for a relaxing place to read or to just have a cup of coffee, even more so than a study. I suppose it's the general feel it has."

As the two came further into the room, a servant appeared at the doorway with two cups of cappuccino and two plates of tiramisu, which she set on the coffee table in front of the women. Luka gave her a silent look of gratitude and she swiftly exited the room.

"Do you ever have any parties here or anything?" Miku asked.

"No," Luka replied. "As I said, I don't entertain much. It's difficult to find time for that sort of thing these days."

Miku frowned, surveying the room again. "That's a shame." She couldn't help but envision dozens of men and women in expensive clothing filling the room, each one excitedly going on about some trivial piece of upper-class gossip in-between sips of wine. Without even the memory of that clutter of people hanging in the air, the place felt strangely empty, as if it had forgotten its purpose.

"My parents were different, though," Luka said. "They had connections all over the country, and it seemed as if they called a new group of people over every week. Sometimes I would wander in, if it wasn't anything particularly important, just out of curiosity. But more often my parents would take me along to the parlor when the guests arrived, since they were always eager for them to meet me. Even though I was introduced to them all, every one of them tended to blend together after a while." She laughed, her eyes filling with a cheerful reminiscence. "My parents never expected me to keep up much conversation with them, which was good because I rarely had anything I could talk with them about. Not to mention I wasn't a very outgoing little girl, so sometimes I was even a little reluctant to say hello."

"What kind of people did your parents have over?" Miku asked, bringing a bit of the cake to her mouth.

"Business associates, mainly," Luka said. "They had friends over often, of course, but much of the time it was a handful of promising industrialists or heads of another wealthy family. I never really understood what I overheard them talking about, naturally." She rested her cheek on her hand, smiling brightly. "There were a few people I still remember, though. There was one woman who wore this absolutely ridiculous hat the whole time she was here – it had so many feathers sticking out of it I thought it was some kind of exotic headdress at first. Then there was this enormous man who always spoke very loudly, and I thought he was incredibly angry with me for some reason. I always felt on the verge of tears when he talked to me, I was so scared of him." She laughed again. "I don't think he meant it, though. He was very polite and friendly, but his tone of voice just made me so nervous."

Miku giggled a little in turn. "He must've been so confused at that."

"He really was," Luka said, still chuckling. "When I finally burst into tears, he had no idea what was going on. Thankfully, my parents were there to help me, and I didn't bawl for too long. Once they explained to their guest what he was doing wrong, we got along pretty well."

"So, did you like all that?" Miku asked. "Meeting all these important people, I mean."

"I suppose I just took it for granted," Luka said. "It was something that became a little routine, and I never really understood the importance of the whole affair. It never really occurred to me that my parents were doing it mostly for business reasons, so that they'd have a better understanding of which companies to invest in and all that. I never actually learned of why they had me along so often, though. Maybe they thought having their daughter around would help loosen up whoever they had over."

"I bet it would've worked," Miku said, grinning. The idea of a younger, shyer Luka hadn't been something she had considered before, but thinking about it now the image seemed remarkably charming.

"I suppose it must've," Luka laughed. "They would sometimes have me play the piano for the guests, even though I was never very good. Neither of them knew how to, so I always wondered if the one here was mainly just for decoration."

"You played?" Miku asked, surprised.

"My parents had me take lessons for a little while, though I never really took it back up after their deaths," Luka said.

Miku ate the last of her tiramisu and set her fork down. "Well, would you mind playing for me, then?" she asked.

The pink-haired woman blushed slightly. "It's been over ten years since I actually tried playing anything, Miku. There's no chance I'd do it well."

"In that case..." Miku stood up, a playful grin on her face. "...why don't I help you along a little?"

"I thought you said you haven't played in a while, either," Luka said, confused.

"I remember enough to still be competent at it, at least," Miku said. She walked over to the grand piano in the corner and sat down on the bench, motioning the other woman over next to her.

Luka let out a soft, nervous laugh. "You aren't serious, are you?"

"Of course I am," Miku replied, still grinning.

"...All right then."

Slowly, Luka stood up and joined the teal-haired girl on the piano bench. Miku spread her fingers over the keys, trying to remember the notes from any song she might've been familiar with.

"Did you have a song in mind, or should I find some music somewhere?" Luka asked.

Miku pressed a few keys in succession, hoping to summon up a bit of muscle memory. "Just give me a moment, I'm sure I'll remember something." She played a few more snippets of melodies, yet was still unsatisfied with the results. Finally, she strung together a few notes she felt comfortable with, and after several tries, managed to play a complete phrase that sounded more or less similar to what she remembered playing of the piece.

"How about this one?" the teal-haired girl suggested. "'Minuet in G' by Bach, if I remember right. It's a fairly simple tune."

Luka nodded. "That sounds fine. Is it a duet?"

"No, but we can just each play one hand's part. Here." Miku slid her right hand over Luka's, guiding it over the keys she had just been fiddling with. "You play the melody, and I'll play the harmony, okay?"

"All right," Luka said. "How does that go, again?"

"Like this." Miku hummed out the first few bars of the song, playing the corresponding keys in time to her own slow beat from the top of Luka's hand. "Just repeat that, and don't worry about making any mistakes."

Hesitantly, the pink-haired woman moved her own fingers in turn, trying her best to recreate the phrase Miku had shown her. She seemed incredibly thankful for the patient expression the other woman was wearing the whole time; her playing was rough, grossly unpolished at best, but after a few tries she managed to get the entire melody out with only a few missteps in rhythm here and there.

Miku smiled. "All right. Now just play that over me." She placed her left hand on the lower end of the keyboard. "Try to keep an even tempo, but remember that I'll follow your lead. If you hit a wrong note, just move on."

"I'll do my best," Luka said, a bit of uncertainty still in her voice.

"Okay. Two, three, four, and..."

They began playing the short piece, their tempo slow but even. It was far from perfect, with plenty of slip-ups in the melody's rhythm and even a few misplaced notes in the chords of the harmony. Both players' lack of practice easily shone through in the performance, yet more than enough correct notes landed for the original sound of the song to be heard. Luka could see Miku's greater dedication to the craft, however; there was a certain grace with which her fingers flew from key to key, and her hands didn't seem to have forgotten the techniques of playing to the extent her own had. Even in her mistakes, the girl's passion for what she was doing lay in plain sight.

The last two notes of the harmony sounded, and the song came to a close. Miku took her hands off from the keyboards, smiling widely.

"I guess neither of us are ready to play to a concert hall yet, huh?" she said.

"No," Luka said, laughing. "But it was fun. I haven't done this in so long, I can't believe I'd remember anything."

"You're better at it than you think," Miku said.

"I just have a good teacher," Luka replied.

Miku blushed, looking aside abashedly. A moment passed, and she swallowed as she tried to summon up a more serious expression.

"Luka," she said, turning to face the other woman again. "Do you remember what I said on the ride over here, about how I feel so comfortable when I'm with you?"

"Yes, of course," Luka answered, a little confused.

"What I mean is..." Miku swallowed again, desperately racking her brain for the right words. She hadn't expected to take this turn tonight, but her instinct hadn't failed her before, so she embraced the impulse. "What I mean is, you mean a lot to me, more than I expected you would."

"I'm sorry," Luka said, "but I'm not sure I understand."

"It's just..." Miku paused a little longer. She was improvising, yet half of her refused to let down her barriers, as if she couldn't fully bring herself to say the words she had been longing for the other woman to hear. "Being with you is something I cherish. We've only met so little ago, but when I'm with you, the rest of the world seems to melt away, like it's something I can forget and stop worrying about."

Luka was silent, taking in the words with uncertainty still glossed over her eyes.

"But it's more than that," Miku said. "I've spent such a long time being afraid of other people, Luka. Afraid of who I can really trust, of who I could actually get close to. But you were different. In everything you've done, you've shown me how wonderful, kind, and beautiful you really are, and how I wouldn't have to fear things like that in you. I think I knew that even the moment I saw you." She smiled, her hands shaking on her lap. "It just took me a little longer to realize that."

Luka blushed. "I... I don't know what to say." The corners of her lips slowly rose in turn, her eyes now shining with a serene happiness. "But I'm glad you think so."

"Really?" Miku asked, her smile a little wider.

"Well..." Luka looked off, her face uncertain again. "I think it might be more complicated than that."

Miku put her hand over Luka's. "I think it might be for me, too."

The pink-haired woman looked back up, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"This."

Slowly, Miku brought her face up to Luka's, closing her eyes as the distance between them shrunk. Their lips softly brushed together, then fully embraced. It lasted only a second or two, but time seemed to freeze for Miku as the contact lingered. Though she found it difficult to keep herself from trembling and her heart reverberated like thunder in her chest, an incredible warmth spread throughout her from those few moments she spent connected with Luka, as if she were wrapped up in a ray of heavenly sunlight.

She pulled back, even more slowly than she had approached. Silence hung in the air as thick as stone. Miku noticed the unreadable expression on Luka's face, and her smile faltered. The woman's lips were neutral, her eyes only slightly betraying a sense of surprise in her. A twinge of doubt flared up in Miku at the sight, and she was suddenly afraid, as if she had horribly misread the pink-haired woman's intentions. Countless minutes seemed to pass, then finally the grandfather clock on the other side of the room struck out the hour, shattering the stillness.

"...It's getting pretty late, isn't it?" Luka said. She was staring at her own, uncovered hand in her lap, a heavy blush sitting on her cheeks.

"Oh," Miku said. She took her hand off of Luka's and glanced at the chiming clock. "Yes. I guess it is."

"Would you like to stay here again tonight?" Luka asked.

"No, that's all right," Miku said. "I'd rather sleep at home, I think."

"It's really no trouble-"

"Please," Miku interrupted. "I'd really rather go home right now."

Luka looked at the other woman a moment in contemplation, then stood up. "Very well. I'll get a cab ready, then."

"Thank you."

The pink-haired woman walked towards the door, then stopped once she got there. She took another glance back at Miku, her expression one of deep thought. It almost seemed reluctant, somehow. Finally, she turned back around and stepped out into the hallway.

Miku sighed softly, stood up, and followed the other woman out.

* * *

Notes:

Apologies for the major delay in this chapter's release! I don't have much excuse for it, but I sincerely hope subsequent updates to be far less belated.

Anyway, if you're unfamiliar with the plot of _Don Giovanni_, I highly recommend looking it up, not just to avoid any confusion from Miku and Luka's conversation about it but also because it's an incredibly hilarious show.


	8. Chapter 8

"So?" Lily asked, leaning forward in her seat. "What have you come up with?"

"Not much on my side," Kaito said as he stepped further into the office, Luka following him in. "I checked all the smaller poison dealers out there, but none of them gave me any names. At least, none that would be any use to us."

"None at all? Are you sure you got through to them?"

"I've gotten through to stronger than them," Kaito said. He took a few more steps into the room and plopped down into the armchair next to Lily. "It seems pretty clear to me none of them were involved. That, or our saboteurs had this thing better thought out than we anticipated."

Lily frowned. "And that's really it from you? No rumors, no other leads?"

"I'm telling you, that was it!" Kaito growled. He sighed, recomposing himself. "I'm sorry Lily, but it was a long investigation and I turned up next to nothing. Right now I think our best bet is to just wait for Kamui to finally break."

"Don't you want to hear what I came up with, Kaito?" Luka asked.

Kaito slapped himself in the forehead. "Ah, that's right! I'm sorry Luka, you did mention you found something, didn't you?"

"I did, but I'm not entirely certain of it."

Lily eyed the pink-haired woman expectantly. "Well?"

"I went to the tailor shop, as we had planned," Luka explained. "I was able to get one name out of the manager: Don Emilio Rinaldi."

Kaito snapped his head towards Luka in shock. "Are you serious? He said Rinaldi ordered from him?"

"Technically, he said he was told to deliver the final product to Rinaldi. Apparently, the actual buyer didn't give a name, but most likely that just means the Family was trying to keep themselves as anonymous as possible."

"It sounds as if all the pieces fit," Lily said. "Only, you said you're not certain about it?"

"I found this man a little untrustworthy, somehow," Luka said. "It was just in the way he looked, I suppose. He struck me as rather shifty."

"So, he didn't offer any proof to his claims?" Kaito asked.

"I wanted to see his records to verify what he told me, but he refused to let me see them," Luka explained. "It seemed risky to have tried anything further, so I left it at that."

Lily put a hand to her chin, thinking. "I see what you mean, then. That's hardly enough to justify attacking another Family."

"It's only flimsy evidence if this manager fellow had any reason to lie," Kaito countered.

"But it's completely possible that he'd profit from doing so," Lily said. "Maybe the real buyers bribed him to give any investigators a wrong name."

"I should mention that he didn't give that name to me easily," Luka said. "He refused to forgo his policy of confidentiality until I was able to intimidate him. If he was just going to give out a false name, wouldn't it have made more sense to say it as soon as I asked?"

"Well, wouldn't you have found that suspicious?" Lily asked. She sighed, still turning over the situation in her head. "Still, giving out false information to a _familiare_ is a significant risk, and I'm not sure someone in such a secure position would be willing to take that kind of chance."

Luka nodded in agreement. She herself had led several jobs where she had made an example out of those who had lied to Casa Marciano. The results were always accordingly unpleasant.

"Besides," Lily continued, "this name fits with our prior piece of evidence. It really seems like this little tidbit could go either way."

"Well then, why don't we just go back to the tailor shop and get some proof of these claims?" Kaito said. "Just let me take Luka along, and we'll be reading out of their records in no time!"

"I'd like to avoid that kind of hasty behavior, thank you," Lily said, shooting Kaito a reprimanding glare. "We have our image to consider, after all, and ransacking a perfectly respectable establishment –or at least, respectable as far as the general public is concerned – for no reason other than to confirm a few suspicions isn't going to paint us very favorably in the public eye. Violence is a valuable tool, but its overuse will get us nowhere."

Kaito looked off, smiling lightly. "You sound just like the Don..."

"What's more," Lily continued, "there's no telling whether or not this manager would've altered his records for the sake of keeping up the façade. I'd say our best option for now would be to see whether or not we can rule out Casa Rinaldi as suspects. First, let's consider why they might want my father dead."

"There are only two reasons I can see," Kaito said. "Either they wanted to muscle in on our territory, or they just had some sort of grudge against him."

"But the lack of contact between our two Families makes the latter quite unlikely," Luka observed. "That is, barring anything the Don might've conducted in secret."

A knowing smile grew on Lily's lips. "He did very little I never knew about, Luka. I can assure you, he had no secret meetings going on with Don Rinaldi."

Luka's expression wavered and she shifted her eyes to the floor apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything..."

"It's all right, you were only exploring possibilities," Lily said. "Nevertheless, you and Kaito are both correct: the only conceivable reason any Family would have to attempt something so dangerous is to usurp our control over the grain industry. Therefore, I believe the best course of action would be to actually meet with Casa Rinaldi, to better assess their situation. Perhaps they'll give us some kind of clue as to what they're up to."

"I see what you're getting at," Kaito said. "If we meet with them, under the pretenses of business, we'll be able to get a better sense of what they're investing in, and if they'd actually have any reason to try taking over our monopoly."

"Only, that won't be enough to decide whether or not they're truly preparing some kind of takeover," Luka pointed out. "Even if they're well-off now, they could easily want more."

"I'm prepared for that," Lily said. "You see, that's where Signorina Nekomura will step in."

"Of course, Iroha!" Kaito exclaimed. "You want to send her in to check their records a bit, don't you?"

The blonde nodded, grinning. "She's the quietest spy in the city, if not the country. Before I even finish meeting with Don Rinaldi, she'll have complete knowledge of where they're taking their business. We'll know exactly where Casa Rinaldi is standing."

Luka hummed in thought. "It seems reasonable enough. Even if we're unable to have a complete picture, getting a better idea of what the suspects are planning will help. We're certainly going to need more information before we can go any further."

"My thoughts exactly," Lily said. "In the meantime, I want you two to keep investigating whatever you can. Even rumors would help us at this point, so leave no stone unturned."

"Will do," Kaito said as he began to rise from his seat. "If that's all, I'll just leave you two ladies alone, then."

"What for?" Luka asked, surprised.

The young man laughed. "Didn't you know? Lily's been dying to talk to you about whatever you were doing last night. All during breakfast she wouldn't shut up about it."

Luka stared at Lily, her eyebrows raised and her cheeks tinged red. The blonde gave a small shrug in response.

"Well, I'm just a little curious, is all," she said plainly.

"I'll see you both later, then," Kaito said, giving a small wave as he left the room.

Lily scooted herself up to the edge of her seat, propping her chin up with her hands. "So? How did everything go?"

The pink-haired woman sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have told you I was taking her to the theater." She walked over to the armchair next to the blonde and sat in it. "I swear, you're more enthusiastic about this than I am."

"You're acting as if I'm prying, Luka," Lily said, teasingly. "If I didn't know you better, I might be a little offended."

"It's embarrassing, is all."

"Come on, you just need more confidence. If you can't even talk about it with me, how are you going to get anywhere with this girl?"

Luka thought a moment. "I suppose that's true..."

"Of course it is! So tell me, how'd last night go?"

"Well, I think it went well enough, at first," Luka said, going over the events in her head. "She liked the show a lot. Apparently she used to be a musician, so it looks like an opera was just the thing to take her to."

"Good, good," Lily said, nodding.

"Afterwards, I took her back to the manor," Luka continued. "We had some coffee and pastries in the parlor, and we talked some more. Then she..." Luka briefly cleared her throat in hesitation. "She had me play the piano with her."

The blonde gave a surprised laugh. "I thought you said you hadn't played the piano in years!"

"I haven't. I suppose that's what troubled me, at first. Still... I ended up enjoying it, a lot." Memories of those brief minutes spent performing with Miku came back to Luka, flooding her head with that sense of nervous happiness they instilled in her. Beside herself, she smiled, thinking back on those elegant movements with which the teal-haired girl's fingers flitted about the keyboard, as well as that bright, sunny grin she had been wearing, one so so lovely Luka couldn't help but steal a few glances at it in-between notes. She briefly wondered if maybe that was why she had made so many mistakes.

"It seems like she's getting you to loosen up a bit," Lily said, grinning widely. "You must really trust her."

Luka's smile grew a bit melancholic. "Yes. Yes, I suppose I do."

"So? What happened next?"

"Well..." Luka swallowed, unsure of how her friend would take the next part. "She became very serious all of a sudden. She started talking about how 'comfortable' she feels around me, and how much she cherishes being with me." Of course, there was more to what Miku had said, and Luka knew it. Everything she had told her that night was burned into the pink-haired woman's memory, and no matter how badly she had tried to keep them in some dark recess of her mind, they kept coming back to the forefront of her thoughts, repeating themselves over and over.

Lily looked absolutely thrilled, nearly at the edge of her seat in anticipation. "And then?"

"And then..." Luka paused again, blushing a deep red at the memory. "And then, she... kissed me."

The blonde's eyes widened in amazement. "Luka! Oh, that's wonderful!" she cried out. Her smile began to fade as she noticed her friend's downcast eyes. "Luka? What's wrong?"

Luka mustered up a small smile. "It's just that, well, I sort of went and ruined the mood after that. So much so that she went back home."

Lily blinked. "What do you mean? Were you unresponsive afterward or something?"

The pink-haired woman stayed silent, her shame-filled eyes glued to the floor. Lily groaned in frustration.

"So that's it. You just didn't say anything, and went and made the poor girl feel unwanted." She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. "Look, Luka, this'll probably sound a bit harsh, but please understand I'm saying it as a friend: you're a total idiot."

"But she was just so... forward with it," Luka said, her gaze unchanged. "I didn't know how to react, is all."

"Well, you could've told her how _you_ feel, or something!" Lily said. "That girl went and made the move you were too scared to make, and you didn't even bother telling her you feel the same way!" She hesitated, eying Luka inquisitively. "You _do_ feel the same way, don't you?"

Luka's lip quivered slightly. "I want to say I do, but… I contemplate it over and over, and I never get anywhere. It's frightening." She looked back up, meeting Lily's gaze in desperation. "I barely know her, yet, I think about her so much. Every moment I'm with her is so wonderful, and as soon as we're apart, I start longing to see her again. No matter how much I try to distract myself, I always end up wandering back to that. It's painful, even, that thought of being separated longer than we have to be."

"So what's the problem?" Lily asked, her voice now patient. "If she means so much to you, why don't you just accept it?"

"Because it's all just so strong," Luka answered. "The more I see of her, the more I think about her, my feelings just become more and more intense. I don't know if she's willing to accept all that."

The blonde smiled. "Maybe her feelings for you are stronger than you think."

Luka sighed. "But it's all so uncertain. It feels so risky, and the thought of her hating me... It's just more than I can handle."

"Do you really think she'd react that way?"

"...No," Luka admitted.

"Then you've got nothing to be afraid of." Lily tenderly grasped her friend's hand. "If you ask me, the best thing you can do right now is to make up with her. Just say you're sorry for the other night, and then tell her what you've told me. I'm sure everything will turn out all right."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course. A genuine apology can go a long way, you know," Lily said. "Of course, it wouldn't hurt to give her a little gift, too. Just to be on the safe side."

"A gift?" Luka asked, puzzled. "Like what?"

"Well, the simplest thing would be flowers or something, but it'd be better to get something personal, you know? Something that would matter to her." Lily smiled warmly at Luka, giving her hand a little squeeze. "But the important thing is to actually be honest with yourself for once. Just be you – that's who she likes, after all."

Luka smiled, nodding slightly. "Thank you, Lily. I'm... really glad you're here to help with this."

The blonde grinned widely. "It's no problem. Just promise me you'll make things right soon, okay?"

"Of course." Luka stood and walked to the door, but paused when she got there. "Say, Lily," she said as she turned back to face the blonde, "have you ever heard of something called 'reincarnation'?"

"I've read about it here and there," Lily replied. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just..." Luka thought a moment, trying to find the right words. "Miku – that is, the girl we've been talking about – mentioned it to me the other night. She seemed to think it explained what was going on between us."

Lily chuckled. "That sounds a bit superstitious, if you ask me."

"I thought so too, at the time," Luka said. "Yet, the idea stuck with me for some reason, and the more I think about it... It almost seems to make sense to me."

"Really?" Lily asked, puzzled. "That's awfully unlike you, Luka. Normally, you're always so quick to dismiss the supernatural."

"But when I look at her, she just feels so very familiar, like I've seen her before. No... It's more than that; it's as if I've _known_ her before, but then somehow it was all forgotten."

The blonde shook her head in bemusement. "Well, frankly, I still don't get it. Do you think you're only attracted to her because of your 'past lives' or something?"

"Of course not," Luka said, "it's just I'm wondering if there's more to it." She let out a small sigh, shifting her eyes away from the other woman's gaze. "I'm sorry. This probably sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?"

"It sounds to me like you're just over-thinking things," Lily said. "I know this is all new for you, but loving someone else, even someone you haven't known for very long, isn't all that uncommon. Just accept that, and like I said, be honest with yourself."

Luka sent Lily a grateful smile. "All right. I understand." She gave a brief word of farewell and exited down the hallway.

Before she could turn the first corner, Lily stuck her head out past the door frame.

"And if she does anything _special_ with you tonight, I want to hear about it!"

Luka felt her entire face grow scorching hot, and suddenly remembered why she had qualms with letting Lily know about this in the first place.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, and Luka was still wandering the streets idly. She hadn't found any new information today; none of her contacts had turned up anything fresh, and it seemed there still were no relevant rumors buzzing about. But Luka had put this out her head for quite a while by now.

Now, she was a bit more focused on what she could buy that Miku might like.

She had been going over Lily's advice in her head almost endlessly since she had left the Marciano estate, not so much in order to find any meanings in it that might have eluded her, but rather to ensure she could completely follow it. Luka had long understood that she wasn't as in touch with her more personal feelings as others were; it was simply a part of her that she didn't think she needed in her life, something she had even dismissed as a source of vulnerability. Yet over the past few days, that part of her she had considered locked away, or even nonexistent, had been screaming at her for attention, and flooding her more rational mind with a colossal tide of confusion whenever she refused it her focus. It was intimidating to brave those unfamiliar territories within her after neglecting them for so long, but now at least she had summoned up the courage to venture within her own hidden depth, and amazingly, the more time Luka spent there, the more comfortable she began to feel with herself.

The discoloration of the sky the setting sun wrought caught Luka's eye, and she followed the blazing trail of hues back to their source. The sun was only partially visible by now, yet it held enough power to briefly enrapture Luka with its warm hues. She finally tore herself from the sight and headed in the direction of a nearby jewelry store, figuring it wouldn't hurt to get Miku something a bit more expensive if need be.

Luka wanted this issue behind them both as soon as possible. The thought of letting this misunderstanding get between them was strangely painful to her, yet it was not nearly as painful as the thought of the teal-haired girl's heart needlessly shattered.

Luka soon reached the store in question, resolutely opened its door, and entered.


	9. Chapter 9

Miku sat at the small piano in her room, where she was hard at work trying to pound out a few various pieces from memory. The results were mere snippets, each one barely ever longer than a few seconds. No matter how hard she tried, playing an entire song or even a complete phrase seemed beyond her abilities at the moment; for reasons she was unwilling to explore, she simply couldn't manage to recreate more than a few notes of any given song she strained herself to recall, the added benefit of muscle memory doing practically nothing to aid her efforts. Chord followed unaccompanied chord as she struggled in vain to remember the movements necessary to paint the right melody over the lower notes, and all the while Miku did her very best to ignore how dissonant the piano's horribly out-of-tune strings made her every attempt at harmony.

A horrendously wrong note followed a series of correct ones from the piano's upper register, and Miku finally slammed the wooden cover down over the keyboard in frustration. Her lack of practice and motivation were showing quite vividly, and the inner turmoil she had been trying so desperately to run away from was easily catching up with her.

The more Miku looked back on it, the more she regretted what she had done the other night. Everything had been going beautifully well, and then she had ruined it all by moving far too quickly. She had been so sure of Luka's feelings, so certain that her own would be accepted by the other woman, and the moment had just felt so right. Miku had realized it was a risk, but she was more than willing to take it, eager to seize the opportunity that had so clearly presented itself. Only, she hadn't expected that everything she had been building up to could have been shattered in so little time, or for so few words to say all the things she was most terrified of hearing. Miku held no resentment for Luka; in hindsight, it frankly seemed understandable that she would've reacted the way she did. It was clear the noblewoman needed more space than Miku had anticipated, and the knowledge that she had violated that territory overwhelmed the teal-haired girl with guilt.

But infinitely worse than that shame was the lingering fear that Luka would now drift further away from her, that she would be frightened off by the fervid emotions Miku had put so prominently on display. Luka had become a lone bright spot in Miku's life, and the mere thought of that light disappearing threatened to tear down every last bit of strength she had left. More than anything else, she didn't want to be reduced to a helpless shadow of herself that she had always feared was waiting to emerge from her darkest inner depths.

Miku sighed and buried her face in her hands. She was thinking too fatalistically, she knew. From the moment she had met Luka, Miku was sure that the other woman had genuine feelings of affection for her. There was just something in the way she acted around Miku - how her aristocratic rigidity seemed to relax in the subtlest of ways, how she would tense up ever so slightly at the smallest bit of contact between them, how she would steal glances at Miku with a barely-noticeable glint of breathlessness in her eyes whenever she thought the teal-haired girl wasn't looking. Surely, she still would want to stay with Miku even after this invasion of her boundaries; surely, she wouldn't abandon her.

Yet, it was so difficult not to let the towering regret of her actions distort her every thought. It had seemed so obvious to Miku that she should just move forward, that it was safe to push Luka a bit more into showing what must have been her own true feelings. Knowing she had been wrong swept Miku away in a great tide of doubt and regret, and she was barely able to keep herself afloat in that vast sea.

Now Miku only could wonder whether or not things might have turned out for the better had she waited longer to let Luka accept it all, if she might have gained that intimacy she had unknowingly craved for so long if she had just been a bit more patient. The thought was torturous, like a hand grasping her by the neck and throttling her - but no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't get it to leave her head.

She finally stood up from the piano and quietly left the Kagamine manor through its massive front doors, hoping that a long evening walk might do a better job at distracting her.

A cool breeze greeted her as she turned a corner, heading in no particular direction. Although Miku knew the city well enough to get to nearly wherever she wanted, from nearly anywhere else, now that she didn't have any specific destination in mind she found herself strangely lost. It was a feeling she couldn't remember having in quite some time, and she began to wonder if taking this aimless stroll was actually the best way to improve her mood.

Haphazardly, she turned around and began to make her way towards San Valeriano Cathedral, where she hoped her usual spot atop the bell tower would help to see things with a more positive outlook. She only got past a few blocks before she noticed a tall, pink-haired woman walking out of a jewelry store with a small box clutched in her hand.

Almost the moment she was noticed, Luka turned her head towards Miku, and, wiping away a brief look of surprise, dashed over to the teal-haired girl. Miku simply stood frozen in shock.

"Miku!" Luka shouted as she closed the distance between them. "I was just now meaning to find you."

"Oh." Miku wasn't entirely sure what to make of this. Clearly, the other woman was pursuing her, which thankfully meant that last night hadn't been enough to scare Luka away, but beyond that, Miku knew nothing. Her instinct was that Luka intended to let her down easy, to firmly but politely tell her that she didn't return Miku's feelings, and that she was willing to forget about what happened the previous evening. Inwardly, Miku almost smiled at the thought; at least this way Luka could still be a part of her life.

Luka broke off her gaze from Miku, apparently made anxious by the teal-haired girl's short reply.

"You see," she said, "I wanted to talk with you."

Those few words seemed to immediately confirm Miku's suspicions, and a melancholic smile grew on her face. Even though it was less than what she had set out for, she was utterly happy that Luka apparently cared enough about her to do this much for her.

"All right," Miku said.

"I think we'd be more comfortable if we spoke back at the manor," Luka said. "It... it isn't something I can say very easily, you understand."

This confused Miku, even enough to throw her off her established theory. If Luka was just going to reject her, there shouldn't have been this hesitation; the noblewoman didn't seem very uneasy about keeping others from forcing themselves too far past her defenses, and her generally straight-forward manner suggested she would have just prepared a terse and to-the-point speech to settle the matter if her intentions were as Miku suspected. She wondered if maybe Luka just felt guilty about having to push her away, and the thought brought her a bit more comfort.

"Of course," Miku replied, a polite smile masking her myriad anxious thoughts.

Luka nodded, and began to lead her back through the streets. A heavy silence hung between them as they walked, its thick presence like a specter hovering over Miku's shoulder. The pink-haired woman was still mostly unreadable, Miku thought, her demeanor still poised and proper. Yet through that stoicism, Miku swore she could sense a bit of nervousness on her face, as if her fear of whatever she was planning to do next was actually able to crack her heavy armor and shine through the crevices.

Miku wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.

They soon arrived at the manor, where they brought themselves back to the parlor. Luka offered Miku a seat on a couch, and, hesitantly, she accepted it.

"So," Luka said as she took a seat across from Miku, "I want to talk about what happened last night."

"I thought you might," Miku admitted. She took a breath, steadying herself. "I want you to know, I'm very sorry for what I did then. I should've known I was crossing a line."

A look of surprise flashed across Luka's face, but she quickly recomposed herself. "I'm sorry," she said. "I ought to have phrased that better. You have nothing to apologize for."

A strange mixture of shock and hope began to swell up within Miku. "What? But, I was so direct with you so quickly, and I should've known better than to push you like that, and-"

"Please," Luka interrupted. "I mean what I say. You didn't do anything wrong."

Miku hesitated, afraid to embrace the sanguine thoughts Luka's words had invoked. "Really?"

"Of course. In truth, I owe _you_ an apology."

"...What do you mean?" Miku asked expectantly.

"I mean..." Luka blushed and looked off to the side, her voice growing smaller. "I mean that you did what I desperately wanted you to. Only, I realized that far too late."

Miku's eyes widened in joyous surprise. She tried to say something, anything, but her tongue felt caught in her throat.

"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did last night," Luka said. "Truly I am. I was being dishonest with myself, and with you – I suppose I thought that made me feel safer, somehow, but now I can only regret that it has taken me so long to stop denying myself the true happiness you give me." She smiled, her eyes calm and sincere despite the lingering redness on her cheeks. "All I can ask now is that you give me a second chance."

"Luka..." Miku whispered, nearly breathless from the overwhelming bliss emerging inside her. She could barely believe she was hearing any of this.

"Of course, I didn't intend to mend things with an apology alone," Luka said. She placed the small box she was holding in her lap onto the small coffee table between them. "Please, open it," she offered.

Slowly, Miku picked up the box and lifted the hinged lid on it, revealing a pair of necklaces inside. One pendant was in the shape of a crescent moon, made of a pure, shining silver and studded with small sapphires, and the other a golden, ruby-adorned sun.

"I hope you like it," Luka said. "I just remembered how you seemed to like that story I told you a couple days ago, so it seemed fitting."

"They're beautiful..." Miku said softly as she ran her thumb over the masterfully crafted jewelry. "Thank you, Luka. I don't think I've ever been given anything so lovely."

Luka smiled in grateful satisfaction. "I'm glad. I just hopes this makes up for everything."

"You more than made up for it already," Miku said, laughing. "I don't think I can tell you how much what you said means to me."

Luka's smile morphed into a look of nervousness. "Then, was the gift too much?"

Miku laughed again. "Don't be silly, Luka, it's perfect." She held a necklace in either hand, examining them both. "But did you really mean for me to have both?"

"I thought so, yes," Luka said. "It doesn't fit the story otherwise."

Miku looked over the pendants again, thinking. "I've got a better idea," she finally said. She held out her hand, offering the sun necklace to Luka. "Go on, take it."

Luka looked confused. "Miku, this is _your_ gift; I've no right taking any of it back."

"It'd mean more to me if you wore it than if I kept it," Miku said.

"...Very well."

Luka took the piece of jewelry and hooked its chain around her neck, Miku copying the action with her own necklace.

Miku smiled brightly. "See? Don't we match well?"

"I'm not sure I understand," Luka said.

"Well, if we both wear these," Miku explained, "it'll be as if we're connected through them. Every time I put mine on, I'll be able to think of you."

Luka blushed again. "I... I like that," she said.

Miku's smile grew softer and she leaned over the table separating them, placing her hand over Luka's. "You're such a beautiful, wonderful person, Luka. Today you showed me that more than ever."

Luka smiled in turn. "I don't think I can truly say how happy I am to hear that from you." She laced her fingers with Miku's and leaned in closer towards her.

"You don't have to," Miku whispered.

She moved in further, and finally closed the distance between them. Their lips met, and Miku was overcome by a familiar warmth that spread completely throughout her being. Only, this time she could sense that Luka was sharing in that heat, that she too was becoming enveloped by the raw emotion that reverberated so powerfully from this single moment. The outside world melted away, leaving Miku with only the sensation of those soft lips pressed against her own, and the silent words of love they were both ardently whispering to one another through that small bit of contact.

Slowly, they pulled back, leaving their faces only a few inches apart. Miku could see nothing in Luka's eyes but a wordless confirmation of the miracle that had just happened, a shining light of affection that pierced through to Miku's very center and left her speechless with disbelieving happiness.

Her hand still lightly gripping Luka's, Miku slowly rose from her seat and crossed over the table separating them. Luka rose in turn as she approached, and she let go of Miku's hand to wrap her arms around the shorter girl. Craving a greater closeness, Miku closed her own arms around Luka and tightly embraced her, then leaned in for another kiss. To her astonishment, Luka met her halfway, and the feeling of their connected lips became even more tender than before.

Timidly, Miku brushed her tongue against Luka's lips. Surprise flashed across her face at the contact, but she quickly granted Miku entrance, and the teal-haired girl deepened the kiss. She tenderly let her tongue intertwine with Luka's, hugging her tall, slender figure even closer as she drowned in a flood of euphoria.

Hours seemed to pass, and they broke off again. Miku now found herself utterly lost in the azure eyes staring back at her with a look of quiet bliss, the lightly smiling lips betraying a rich and warm joy. She reached up to Luka's shoulder and brushed the soft pink hair that fell alongside her face with the back of her fingers, taking in even this tiny detail with more ardor than she could ever remember feeling before.

"Would you like to move to someplace a bit more comfortable?" Luka asked, her voice soft and low.

"Where did you have in mind?"

"There's a balcony on the upper story that has a lovely view of the sky. It shouldn't be long before the stars are out."

Miku nuzzled her head against Luka's neck. "Then let's wait for them together," she said, giving a peck on the other woman's cheek.

Luka brought a hand behind Miku's head and stroked her hair. She was radiating a serene happiness, and Miku wanted to soak up every bit of it, to share in this soft, golden warmth as much as possible.

"Well then, shall we go?" Luka asked, lightly kissing Miku on the top of her head.

Miku hugged Luka a bit tighter, taking in the feel of her curves pushed up against her body once more before finally releasing herself from the tender embrace.

"Yes," she said. "Let's."

Silently, they walked out of the parlor with held hands, the pendants about their necks shining softly in the evening light trickling into the room.


	10. Chapter 10

A bright, celestial light lit up the vast field, and the smell of freshly-bloomed flowers traveled along the wind. Luka stood marveling at it all from the center of the place, almost overcome by its beauty. She took a few steps around, lovingly taking in the feeling of the soft, moist grass on her bare feet and the cool breeze brushing against her skin. The sky was clear and bright, an infinite ocean of sapphire without a single object hanging in its domain.

Her long, pink hair and the skirt of her golden dress gently swaying in the breeze, Luka wandered around the great field, meeting each blade of grass she trod upon with a tremendous happiness. Every last patch of the field was luscious and pure, all of it radiating a quiet serenity that Luka basked in wholly. Once she finally grew tired of walking, she fell over and simply laid on the vast sea of green, its lush, soft touch welcomed by her now-tired muscles. Sighing contently, she stared up at the sky, smiling at its majestic beauty.

She stayed there for what seemed like hours, perfectly at ease. Suddenly, a face entered Luka's view, and she immediately stood up in surprise. Standing in front of her was a girl in a simple silver dress, her long teal hair worn in twin tails and her expression full of curiosity. They both stood there a few moments, blankly staring one another down, before Luka finally smiled at her in greeting and took a small step forward. The girl, shyly, took a step towards Luka in return, her own smile betraying a lingering sense of wonder about the other woman.

Luka had never seen this girl before in her life. But somehow, at seeing her now, a single name had surfaced in her mind, its sound as clear as the sky above her.

Miku. A stranger she knew.

She couldn't escape now. The thought couldn't even form in her head.

The teal-haired girl was staring at her now, examining her with a wide-eyed awe. Luka laughed, not sure why she should be given such intensive study. She extended her arm and offered a hand to Miku, and the girl took it almost instantly. Her look of inquiry was gone now, and a bright, exuberant smile pierced through Luka's heart. She gave another smile in return, and began to lead Miku in a slow, unaccompanied dance.

Together, they spun and twirled, stepping about the field with a delicate clumsiness. Neither moved with much grace, but each seemed to know where the other was about to go, how best to synchronize their movements. Luka had no idea why she had prompted this dance, but once she had started, she found the act as natural as breathing. Every step in their spontaneous ballet was like magic, each twirl about one another bringing them closer, as if they could form a greater whole just from continuing their ungainly waltz. They could both feel the excitement and joy of the other, the compounded joy enveloping them as their laughter continued to ring out across the vast field.

Suddenly, there was a horrible rumbling from the ground below. They both stopped, an incredible fear now replacing their happiness. With a colossal tremor, the earth beneath them began to split open, a widening crevice growing between them. Luka hung on to Miku's hand, desperately trying to stay with her, but the the rupture in the ground was becoming far too wide. With a final, painful yank, Luka lost her grip, and they were left separated by the ever-growing crevice. Panicking, Luka took a running start and made a tremendous leap over the fissure, but she fell just short of the other shore and began to tumble down into the endless darkness below. As she fell, she could hear a terrified voice from above called her name over and over.

"Luka! Luka!"

It echoed down into the vast chasm, and Luka clenched her teeth at the sheer horror behind the words. In utter desperation she reached about for something, anything that she could grab onto.

"Luka! Luka!"

But she was falling too fast. The rocky walls around her were a blur, the echoing voice ringing in her ears the only constant sensation she could take in.

"Luka! Luka!"

Forcing back a scream, she closed her eyes, and –

"Luka," a soft, low voice called.

"Mm?" Luka moaned in response. The visions dancing in her head began to fade away as the voice washed over her, and reality began to worm its way back into her senses. She slowly lifted her still-heavy eyelids, blinking back the blinding sunlight that was seeping in through the bedroom windows.

"C'mon, Luka, it's morning," Miku called in a quiet, sing-songy voice.

Luka let out another sleepy groan and finally opened her eyes completely. She was holding Miku in a loose embrace atop the bed they were sharing, the teal-haired girl's own arms wrapped around Luka's torso as she gently nuzzled her neck. The feeling of the soft, teal hair pressed against Luka's skin was heavenly, and the slight pressure of Miku's arms against her sides was unbelievably comforting.

Yawning, Luka pulled Miku in a little closer, basking in the shared warmth of their bodies.

"Just a little longer?" she asked, drowsily.

Miku giggled. "I didn't know you were such a slow riser in the morning, Luka."

"I just don't want to leave this, is all."

"You're going to have to get up eventually. Or, at least I will."

Luka chuckled at the teasing words. "All right, fair enough," she said. She loosened her hold on Miku, but somehow couldn't bring herself to let go completely.

"...You really don't want to get up, do you?" Miku sighed.

"Well, you're not exactly making an effort to leave, either," Luka pointed out.

Miku laughed. "I guess you have a point," she said. Tenderly, she brought a hand up to Luka's face and cupped her cheek. "But it's not like this is the last time we'll do this, right?"

Luka sighed and, conceding defeat, took her arms off of Miku. The teal-haired girl smiled, giving Luka a light peck on the lips before finally emerging from beneath the covers to sit on the side of the bed. She stood up and picked her plain black dress from off the floor, quickly slipping it on over her white undergarments.

"You can go on ahead to the dining hall if you'd like," Luka said, still trying to gather the strength to sit upright. "I might be a little while."

"That's all right," Miku chirped. "I'd rather just wait here with you."

"But..." Luka looked off, nervous. "But, I still have to get dressed..." she said.

Miku gave a short laugh. "You're not naked, Luka, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Besides," she said, smiling brightly, "your body's absolutely beautiful."

Luka's cheeks grew scalding hot. For some reason, knowing that made her a bit more reluctant about leaving the shelter of the covers.

She gave another sigh and finally got up, ignoring the pounding, almost excited nervousness of Miku seeing her while she was so under-dressed. When they were together, holding one another, the anxiety simply wasn't there, or at least it was unnoticeable beneath the tranquil happiness that enveloped them both like their shared body heat. Now that they were detached from one another, being seen in only her underwear was more than a little embarrassing for Luka.

Miku, noticing Luka's shyness, respectfully turned her back, though a small giggle still broke through her lips. "I got dressed in front of you just fine, you know," she said.

"It's just a little improper, is all," Luka said. She pulled a shirt and a pair of pants from her wardrobe and hastily began putting them on. "I'm sure I'll get over it, but for now it's still a bit of an obstacle for me."

"Well, I guess I don't mind it all that much," Miku said with a playfully pondering tone. "You're adorable when you're flustered, you know."

Luka felt her cheeks grow warm again. She quickly finished dressing herself and softly cleared her throat.

"Well then, shall we go?" she said, offering Miku her arm.

Grinning, Miku immediately took it. "By all means," she said, and they walked out of the room, their pace slow and easy.

* * *

"Well?" Kaito asked, sitting into an armchair. "Are your findings in yet?"

"Naturally," Lily replied. She turned her head towards a short, pink-haired girl standing next to her. "I'll tell them my information first then, Iroha."

The girl gave a small nod of agreement and, satisfied, Lily began to speak.

"The meeting was brief, extremely formal, and quite informative. I held it on the pretense of business, naturally; I told them that I was worried about the well-being of other Families following the blow ours has taken, and that in our own time of need I hope our fellow _familiari_ shall act with their usual honor towards us, perhaps even aiding us in our efforts to find justice. I offered the possibility of trade if they felt particularly unstable in the wake of these events, or if perhaps they themselves had been victims of an attack and were suffering for it. In brief, they told me that they were doing quite well on their own and had no need for help from Casa Marciano or any other Family, though they expressed their deepest sympathies for our loss."

"That's quite telling," Luka said, mulling over the information. "If they were actually interested in taking over our territory, one would think they would have used that opportunity to buy up some of our shares in the industry."

"Unless they realized it was a trap," Kaito countered. "Our ruse wasn't exactly air-tight, you know."

"A fair point," Lily said, "but ultimately, it seems they were actually being quite honest with us." She motioned towards the girl beside her. "Iroha, if you would."

"Very well," the pink-haired girl responded. "I'd like to first tell you all that it wasn't easy slipping into the Rinaldi manor unnoticed. Their security was sharply tightened; I believe they even hired a few extra guards along with expanding the shifts of their current ones."

"Sounds incriminating," Kaito said. "It's as if they're especially worried about someone like Nekomura getting in. Seems to me they had something to hide."

"One explanation, perhaps," Iroha said. "Personally, I wonder if they're more afraid of being attacked themselves following the damage we've sustained. That's the most reasonable explanation for it given the evidence I found, you see."

"You didn't bring any of that back with you, did you?" Luka asked.

"Of course not. It would compromise our position significantly if they were ever to discover some of their documents have gone missing. But I committed to memory as much pertinent information as I could find."

"And that leads you to believe they're innocent?" Kaito asked.

"Yes. All of the relevant documents I found concerned shipments of wines and other spirits, typical banking and profits records, and orders concerning investments in factories and shops not under our sphere of influence. There was little, if any, information that implied an interest in expansion, let alone anything to imply they're interested in our grain monopoly."

"So they really were being honest at the meeting," Kaito mused.

"Exactly our issue," Lily said. "Even though we managed to build up a considerable amount of rather damning evidence against Casa Rinaldi, we can't seem to find anything close to a motivation for them."

Luka frowned. "I can't say I like this contradiction very much, either. If there truly is no motivation, then where did the evidence come from?"

"I think it's an issue best solved later," Lily said, sighing. "For now, we ought to just call Casa Rinaldi a dead end and keep looking for leads elsewhere."

The two _cavalieri_ both nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'll be off, then," Kaito said as he rose from his seat. "I guess you two want to be left alone again?"

Luka eyed Lily in disbelief. "You told him about what I was doing last night, too?"

"Not in detail," Lily protested. "I just might've let slip that I was curious about how things went."

"Well, no offense, but I'm not," Kaito said. "Besides, I'd bet you'd prefer a bit of privacy when you talk about _that_ sort of thing, huh?"

He gave a small wave and a word of farewell, then exited out the door, Iroha following once she'd said her own terse goodbyes.

"'_That_ sort of thing'?" Luka asked incredulously. "Just how much did you actually let slip, Lily?"

"Come on, that's not important now," Lily said, motioning Luka over to the empty seat next to her. "I just want to know if last night went well for you two."

Luka sighed and took the offered chair. "All right. Well, you'll be happy to know that your advice worked; our misunderstanding is well behind the both of us now."

Lily grinned widely. "Wonderful!" she cried. "She knows how you feel, too? I mean how you _really_ feel?"

"She does. She was so happy to hear me say it, too." Even as she mentioned that moment, Luka couldn't help but think back on how breathtakingly beautiful the teal-haired girl had been then. The incredible joy that had brightened Miku's was eyes was more enchanting than starlight, an alluring brilliance that drew Luka in like no other beauty she had ever seen.

"Then, did she _show_ her happiness in any way?" Lily asked, her grin growing a bit more mischievous.

Luka blushed. "We... kissed. And then we just held each other awhile, out on the balcony." She smiled, the feelings of those precious moments still flooding over her. "I don't think I've ever been happier."

"And after that? Was there, you know, anything else?"

"Then, we... we slept together." The burning on Luka cheeks had grown even hotter, and she couldn't bring herself to keep eye contact with her friend.

"I knew it!" Lily shouted. "So? How was it? No, how was _she_? What was she like?"

"I didn't do anything undignified, thank you very much," Luka protested. "There is such a thing as moving too quickly, you know. Even I recognize that."

"So you _do_ want to, eventually?"

"I – " Luka groaned. "Honestly, Lily, sometimes you're too much."

"Sorry, sorry," Lily said, laughing. "But in all seriousness, I'm truly happy things worked out."

Luka smiled. "I am, too. And I have you to thank for it."

"Don't belittle yourself," Lily said. "I know it must have been hard for you to open up like that, and it's great that you pulled through. You should be proud of that."

"You were a great help, nonetheless," Luka said. "I don't think I would've been able to put things back together without you, and I'm truly grateful that you're here for me. There's no one I'd rather have guiding me through this."

"...Thank you," Lily said, visibly touched by the words. She laughed, shrugging it off. "You must really love this girl if being with her got you to say something that sentimental. I'd really like to meet her sometime."

"That shouldn't be difficult," Luka said. "Though, there's still the nature of our business..."

Lily blinked. "She doesn't know you're a _familiare_?"

"You know it would've been improper to tell her early on, before I really knew her. I just haven't had the chance to let her know more recently."

"Well, no matter," Lily said. "It's a bit unsettling for some at first, certainly, but if she really loves you it shouldn't matter. It's not as if you're doing anything wrong, after all."

"I know, but..." Luka trailed off, sighing. "I suppose I'm still a little afraid of what she'd think of me one she knew."

"She'll think that you're helping to bring order to our city in these uncertain times, just like I do," Lily said. "You have nothing to worry about. Besides, it'd be better for the both of you to get things like this out in the open early on – it's never helpful to keep secrets in a relationship."

Luka sighed again. "You're right, of course. I was just letting my anxieties get the better of me."

"It's all right," Lily said reassuringly. "I'm only telling you all this because I want things to work out for you two. Who knows, maybe if you stick with this girl, we'll even get a new member of the family soon. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Luka was about to protest, the thought of a commitment that deep a bit too much for her, but then silenced herself. As she continued to consider it, becoming that close to Miku, accepting her more deeply into her own life and society - none of it really seemed all that frightening.

"Yes," she finally said, smiling. "It truly would be."

* * *

Miku walked down the streets with an unusual giddiness in her step, yet she still took a great deal of care to make her stroll leisurely. The deteriorating concrete surrounding her was like a mass of golden clouds, the cobblestone beneath her feet like a bright woodland path lined with flowers in bloom. Everything around her seemed bright and beautiful, and she wanted to experience it all for as long as she could. The weather was warm, and the sun was shining brightly in the clear sky.

Despite the relaxed pace of her walk, it wasn't long before Miku arrived before the steel gates of the Kagamine manor. She didn't want to be here, but somehow, she couldn't manage to make herself unhappy about that. Even as she made her way past the stone-faced guards and up towards the towering front doors, she moved as if she were following some innate dance, accompanied only by the Chopin piece she was softly humming to herself.

Predictably, Len was waiting just past the door, pacing about with an added nervousness in his movements and his eyes glued to the floor in front of him. He snapped his head towards the doors as they creaked open, his impatient frown twisting into a fiery scowl as Miku waltzed into the lobby.

"_There_ you are!" he shouted. "Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting for you? Where did you even _go_ this time of day?"

"Sorry, Len," Miku replied, smiling. "Didn't mean to inconvenience you." She was lying, though her tone certainly didn't betray it. The fact was, she just wasn't interested in picking a fight right now.

Len's scowl melted away. "Well... all right, then." He paused, apparently bewildered at not having to keep up an argument. "Come on, the others are waiting on you."

The two soon arrived at the conference room, where Rin was leaning far back into her seat and Sonika was rapidly drumming her fingers on the table. Both their attentions immediately went to the door as it opened ant the two others entered.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Len announced, his tone laced with frustration.

"And pray tell what kept you from being here on time today?" Rin asked Miku, an icy smile on her lips.

"Just an early morning walk," Miku replied, not missing a beat.

Rin shrugged. "Well, the important thing is that we're all here now, I suppose." She leaned forward in her seat and rested her hands on the table. "I'll be frank with you all: things aren't heading in quite the direction we'd hoped for."

"What a surprise," Len muttered under his breath.

Rin shot him a frigid glare, then resumed.

"We have every reason to believe the trail's getting cold," she continued. "Casa Marciano's activity has been dropping the past couple of days; it seems as if they're losing interest in our bait."

"What's more," Sonika cut in, "I've received word that they've recently met with Casa Rinaldi, no doubt trying to verify the trustworthiness of the evidence they've found against them. I'm not very confident they'll be able to do so."

"So, now what?" Len asked impatiently. "They've probably seen completely through our web of lies by now. If they have nothing to go on anymore, how can we expect them to blame Casa Rinaldi?"

"We can't," Rin replied. "It's quite likely that they'll decide to give up the chase, unless we intervene. Fortunately, we still have a terrific means of getting them back on the right scent."

"The fact that Casa Marciano actually approached Casa Rinaldi presents us with an enormous opportunity," Sonika explained. "We could easily make them believe this has made Casa Rinaldi frightened, and that they're worried about being found out."

"And how would we go about doing that?" Len asked.

Rin grinned knowingly. "Think about it, Len. If you were worried about being discovered by another Family and were forced to take drastic measures, what would you do?"

"Drastic measures, huh?" Len pondered the question a moment. "I guess the safest thing to do would be to get rid of one of the higher-ups. Ideally, it'd mean they'd lose a key investigator and not find me out, but even if I were discovered at least there'd be one less _cavaliere_ to worry about."

"Exactly," Rin said, her grin growing wider. "So, all we have to do is pin that exact crime on Casa Rinaldi."

"It wouldn't be difficult, either," Sonika said. "If we left some scrap of evidence incriminating them after the assassination is done with, then Casa Marciano would inevitably put the pieces together in the way we want them to."

"And then we'd have our war," Rin said triumphantly.

Len nodded, conceding agreement. "Sounds safe enough to me," he said. "So, who's Miku's new target?"

Miku sighed softly. So there was a reason for her being here after all.

"What about that Kaito guy?" Len suggested. "He's pretty close to the top."

Sonika shook her head. "That's actually the trouble – he's a bit _too _close to the top. Being next in line for _capofamiglia_, he'd be far too well-guarded. It's too risky."

"So naturally," Rin said, "that leaves us with _La Oltranza_ herself." She produced a few papers and slid them over to Miku. "This should have everything you'll need, Miku."

Slowly, Miku took the papers. As she glanced down at them, her eyes widened and her throat went horribly dry. On the very front page of the sheets, staring back at her with a cold, stony glare, were six words that instantly sucked the breath out from her lungs.

_Luka Megurine: _Cavaliere _of Casa Marciano_.

The text shot through her like one of her own bullets, the very shape of the letters cruel and unfeeling. Trying to cover her reaction, she set the papers down in front of her.

"When?" she asked, her voice as flat as she could make it.

"Why, tonight, of course," Rin said. "We need to put them back on the trail as soon as possible, after all." She stood up and went to the other side of the table. "Sonika will give you something to leave behind at the scene. Leave that and only that, do you understand?"

Miku nodded, her voice forsaking her.

"Good," Rin said, smiling. She gripped the back of Miku's chair and leaned down to her ear. "And remember just how important this job is for all of us. I don't have to remind you not to slip up."

Miku nodded again. "Of course," she finally forced herself to say, briefly winning against her dry, uncooperative mouth.

Rin let go of the chair, a satisfied grin on her face. "Well, I suppose that covers, everything, then." She made for the door, Len and Sonika standing up to follow her. "Good luck, Miku," she called from the door frame, and then disappeared down the hallway, the other two in tow.

The silence of the now-empty room forced itself down Miku's throat, but she did nothing to struggle against it. The words on the papers in front of her continued to stare her down with an icy gaze. Silently, she finally gathered them up and rose from her seat. With a quick turn, she left the empty room to return to her own, knowing deep down that there, she would only find more of the same.

She walked down the hallway with the documents clutched at her side. Even in the quarantine of her hands, completely out of her sight, she could still feel the words on those papers she held savagely cutting through her entirety.


	11. Chapter 11

Ten slender fingers nimbly danced along a polished keyboard, their movements purposed and graceful as they filled the air with a wondrous sound. With a swift dexterity they formed innumerable chords, arpeggios, melodies, every note ringing clear and true from the little piano. Both of the hands moving about the keys were perfectly in sync with one another, each keeping a constant and firm rhythm that flowed into the music like a riverbank directing water, expertly guiding the chorus of steel strings in their song.

There was a rush up a scale, the sharp sounds of a resounding melody, and then a final, thundering chord. Miku sat back upright over the keyboard, taking her hands off of it. A decent playing, she thought. The dynamics probably could have been more distinct, but it was still solid. She knew she still had a ways to go before the Conservatory would accept her, but she was empowered by the fact that she was making progress.

"Miku, papa's home!" came a voice from the other room.

"All right, mama!" Miku answered. She leapt off the piano bench and dashed into the foyer, just in time to greet the tall, teal-haired man who had come in through the door with a quick hug.

"Well, hello there, _tesora_!" the man said as he tussled Miku's hair. "Been practicing much today?"

"I just got finished with the Bach," Miku said. She looked over at the slim, apron-clad woman standing nearby. "You heard it, right, mama?"

"It was wonderful, like always," the woman said. "It's a shame you didn't get to hear it, _carissimo_."

"I'd love to listen later this evening, if Miku doesn't mind. That'd be fine with you, wouldn't it, _tesora_?"

"Of course!" Miku replied. "You know I'd be glad to play for you."

The tall man chuckled. "I'll look forward to it." He motioned to the other woman slightly. "_Ciccina_, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Can't it wait? It won't be long until dinner's ready."

"It's important."

A look of worry appeared on the woman's face, but she quickly shook it off. "_Tesora_, would you excuse papa and I for a moment?" she said, smiling at Miku. Without waiting for a confirmation, the two went off to a separate room.

Miku stood there a moment, unsure of what to make of this. Papa seemed very serious all of a sudden, but she couldn't think of a reason why. She looked over at the closed door her parents had disappeared behind, contemplating it, even letting herself be lured in by the cruel sense of division it screamed. The sight of it was making a bright and powerful curiosity brew inside her, but she didn't want to be so rude as to stoop to eavesdropping just to satisfy that impulse. Still, she desperately wondered what could be so important that papa wouldn't discuss it in front of her, as she knew he only ever did that when the subject was especially grave.

She gritted her teeth and swallowed hard. Just this once would be fine.

Slowly, Miku crept up to the closed door and put her ear beside it. The voices coming past it were soft, but still quite distinguishable.

"_Carissimo_, you really shouldn't have been that abrupt. You must've worried Miku."

"I know, I'm sorry. But I had to tell you this right away."

"Right away?" Please don't tell me the winery – "

"It did. Our lack of sales finally caught up to us."

There was a pause, and Miku forced herself to hold in a gasp during the silence. Papa's winery was his treasure, the thing he'd been happiest to accept from his own father once he'd passed on. Miku knew the business wasn't as profitable as it used to be – her parents tried to hide it, but it was clear they weren't able to buy as much food now – but the thought that things were actually _this _bad was a stinging slap across the face.

"Please, _carissimo_, you can't be serious. You must've missed something, the accountants could've made a mistake..."

"There are no mistakes, and I'm telling you, I didn't miss anything. The winery's bankrupt, completely finished. We couldn't even sell it off to a Family the way things are now."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry – "

"Don't. I knew what I was getting into, it's my fault for trying to be independent when all the alcohol in the city is in Casa Rinaldi's territory. I should've known better than to try making _dolcetto_, that's their biggest seller..."

"You tried your best. Look at how long you kept it open."

"I only managed that because of how much I borrowed, and now we're stuck with paying it all off. It was wrong for me to keep that place going as long as I did. You know the laws against debtors: if we can't pay this off, they'll makes us work it off in _prison_."

"Don't say that. We can get the money we need – we'll sell the house."

"Who'll buy it? People can barely even afford bread these days."

"I still have my job. Won't that help?"

"Maybe. I don't know. It probably won't leave enough to put Miku through the Conservatory."

"If we just make some more cuts in our budge, we'll – "

"No. I'm taking responsibility for this. It's my fault."

"_Carissimo_, this isn't on your shoulders alone, we're a _family_."

"I'll join a _compagnia_."

There was silence again. Miku's eyes widened at the final word her father had uttered.

_Even if we need money that badly, he couldn't really be willing to..._

"No. No, please, you can't do that."

"Why not? There's a lot of demand for it, so the pay's good. The government isn't about to run out of money for a program like this, either, so it's stable."

"How can you say that? You want to get a job hunting criminals, dangerous ones, and you're talking about _pay_?"

"It's as a team, I won't be going alone. Sometimes we'd even get help from the police."

"But they won't even train you!"

"I know enough to fire a gun if I have to. Besides, I'd finally be doing something for the city – there aren't many who'll stand up to the thieves here anymore."

"That's because those who do keep leaving the job in coffins. There's no reason to get patriotic about this – even if the police don't take care of much of the crime here, the Families pick up a lot of the slack. They might be criminals themselves, but at least they get things done."

"And yet there are still bandits everywhere. I'd be doing the city some good."

"If you got hurt on the job, would you be doing _us_ much good?"

There was a sigh. "There's nothing else I can do to support this family. You know that. I don't have enough experience to join the police, and even if I'm able to find work elsewhere, there's no chance it'll pay enough to support us. Don't you see this is all that's left?"

"... I do."

"I promise I'll be safe."

"All right."

Miku stood up, trembling, and made her way back to the piano. She swallowed back a sob and absentmindedly ran a few scales up and down the keys. _It'll be all right_, she thought. _Papa isn't reckless. There's nothing he can't handle._

Nearby, the shut door creaked open. "Miku, could you help me finish making dinner?"

The teal-haired girl stoop up and walked over to her mother, making every effort to keep up a smile.

* * *

"So, did everything go well today, _carissimo_?"

The teal-haired man plunged his fork into a potato. "Pretty well, yes. We caught up with that pick-pocket we lost last week."

"How wonderful."

Miku ate a bite of her own potato, relishing the weight of the food on her tongue. Meals had become less frequent and less filling, but she never complained. She understood that mama and papa were doing their very best to make ends meet right now, and she realized that between paying off the debt and saving for the Conservatory, they had to make some sacrifices. They both were living like paupers, maybe even lower than paupers, and it was all for Miku's sake; it was only fitting that she should face the same hardships they were going through, that she should endure their same suffering.

"He managed to cut up Datallo before we got to him. Pretty badly, too."

"_Carissimo_, please, don't say that at the table."

"Sorry. It was just on my mind."

The clatter of forks on plates filled the room for a few painful moments.

"One of the collectors came by today while you were out," the woman said.

"Oh?"

"They're getting more impatient. I gave them my earnings for the past week, but I don't think they'll be satisfied with that for long."

"I'll get my wages in soon. They'll see we actually have money then."

"That's what you said last week."

The man sighed. "Please, _ciccina_, you know it'll be fine." He glanced at Miku a couple times nervously, apparently trying to communicate with his wife in silence. Miku knew her father was trying to be discreet, but the meaning behind those glances didn't escape her. It wasn't the first time either of her parents had shown worry about fighting in front of her.

"So, papa," Miku said as cheerfully as she could, "can I play for you after dinner?"

The tall man smiled. "Thank you, Miku. Yes, I'd love that."

"I've been practicing more, whenever mama doesn't need my help. I think you'll like it."

"_Tesora_, you're the one playing it. I know I'll like it."

Miku smiled, earnestly touched by her father's words. She stabbed her fork into the last of the food on her plate and chewed it slowly, savoring it. Finished, she set the utensil down and began to rise from her seat.

"If I start playing now, would you mind listening from here?" she asked.

"_Tesora_, please, don't leave until everyone's finished," mama said.

"Your mother's right, Miku. Just wait, all right?"

The teal-haired girl sunk back down into her seat. "All right," she said quietly. The silence in the air could have been cut with a knife. Miku wanted more than anything else to fill it, but she couldn't find the right words.

Both her parents were staring intently at their plates as they ate. It wasn't that long ago since the table was livelier and more cheerful, Miku thought. Now it seemed as if a single wrong word could put a terminal dent in the glass semblance of serenity that stood in the house, finally shattering that fragile peace after it had lost so much of its former integrity.

Papa had told his family more than once about what happened to his coworkers at the hands of the criminals they pursued. Usually they would try to fight the _compagnia_ off with knives or various blunt instruments, but on some rare occasions they even had guns. Once a murderer attacked his pursuer with only his bare hands and teeth, a sight that left papa inexplicably quiet after he'd mentioned it at dinner. Miku could tell the violence bothered her father, and she dearly wished he would just quit the job already. She knew mama did, too, but that didn't make either of them any more inclined towards telling him so.

"She has a gift!" Miku had once overheard him saying to his wife. "I wouldn't be the father she deserves if I let it go to waste."

The woman was apparently unable to counter that, because Miku never heard her object. That didn't entirely surprise her, though: by now, it seemed as if all that kept the both of them going was the need to support their daughter, as if they lost themselves entirely in that filial devotion. They gave and sacrificed unconditionally, day after day, week after week; it terrified Miku to think about how she could ever pay them back for all that.

Miku took another look at her parents' faces as they continued to slowly chew their food. She realized just how haggard and tired they both looked now, how much they seemed to have aged compared to the couple she remembered from even a few months ago. It must have been gradual, this change: it must have sneaked up on Miku slowly, like a tree shedding its leaves in the autumn. Even now, she didn't think she would've noticed this transfiguration if she wasn't thinking about its cause.

Her parents both finally set their forks down. "All right, Miku, go on and play now," mama said, smiling.

"I can help here first, if you need – "

"No, _tesora_, that's all right, I'll clear the table myself. You just go on and play for papa and me, all right? I've been wanting to hear that song you kept practicing today again."

Miku hesitated. "All right, sure," she said as she slowly rose from her seat.

She smiled back at both her parents, then dashed out of the room towards the nearby piano, with which she soon drowned out the oppressive stillness with a loud, jaunty Mozart piece. Though all she could hear was the singing of the keys, she easily felt the gratitude of the couple nearby, as well as their genuine pride.

* * *

It was a few months later when a particularly loud knocking came at the door, loud enough even to make Miku come to a sudden halt in her practicing.

Her mother ran to answer it, and Miku resumed her playing. It was probably another debt collector showing his impatience, warning mama about how the government will not tolerate violations of financial contracts, especially not in these turbulent times. Miku had been told to stay out of such dialogues, and she was glad for that. She found the harsh bureaucracy of the business all so frightening.

She returned to the keys in front of her and picked up at the exact measure from where she had left off, confident in her mother's ability to sort out whatever was going on. It was only when Miku had finished her song and noticed her mother standing nearby, her face reddened and painted with tears, that she realized something was horribly wrong.

"That was a colleague of your father's, Miku," the woman said quietly. "He came here to tell me your father was shot a little while ago by a robber they were chasing down." She swallowed hard. "He's dead, Miku. Dead. They tried to get him to a hospital but the damage was already too much. And now he's gone. Oh God, he's actually _gone_..."

Her fragile expression finally shattered and she began to sob quietly, covering her face in her hand. Miku only sat there, quiet and bewildered. She wanted to join her mother's cries, to grieve for the man she had known and loved for all her life, but the tears just wouldn't come. It was as if she was so doubled over from the sudden pain in her chest that she couldn't speak or even react.

She didn't even want to believe what her mother had just said. Not just because of how dearly she wished it wasn't true, but because of how impossible it seemed. Papa had come home so many nights without so much as a scratch on him; he had been the invincible one in his work, the one in the _campagnia _that trouble couldn't come to. He had to have been, because he had the love of his family to guide and protect him. The thought that he wouldn't be coming home tonight was almost inconceivable.

Miku was still silent as her mother began to dry her tears. But the sadness in the woman's eyes was deeper now, and an aching desperation was laced in that sorrow.

"You need to get out of here, Miku," she said. "We need to get you somewhere else as soon as possible. Your father's salary was the only thing keeping the collectors satisfied, and I don't know how I'll hold them off now." She swallowed again. "They're going to want to arrest us both, Miku. The debt's in our name as well as in your father's, and when they figure out we can't pay it off anymore they'll put us both in prison." She took a deep breath, collecting herself. "My brother lives on the other side of town. You need to pack up all your things and go there tonight, no later. I'll give you a letter explaining everything for you to give to him. You'll have to stay there now."

Miku stayed silent another long moment. "Why can't you come with me?" she finally asked, her voice quivering, caught in her throat. "There's no reason for you to be left behind. Please, you can't leave me, too."

The woman slowly shook her head. "I can't, Miku. They know who I am. They've spoken to me, I have bank records. If I leave, they'll find me, sooner or later. And if they find me with you, they'll take you, too." Tears began forming in her eyes again. "Please, Miku, you can't let that happen. You have a future, and I'll die before I let them take that away from you."

Miku wanted to protest. She wanted to steady her voice and shout out some brilliant plan of how it didn't have to be this way. She wanted to tell mama how she had a secret stash of money that could pay off the debt, or at least get them both out of the country; she wanted to say she'd find a job to pay everything off in a day, that she knew a place to hide, anything.

But she couldn't. None of that was true, and Miku knew it. There was nothing more either of them could do now.

She swallowed hard, and finally let the tears brimming in her throat run free. Her mother wrapped her arms around her and held her as close as she could.

"I'm sorry, Miku," she said through her own sobs. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

There was still light out when Miku arrived at her uncle's small house later that evening. The man was no wealthier than his sister, but unlike her he let that be a reason to live unmarried, which meant he had a bit of spare room to house the teal-haired girl. He had to take several minutes to recover from the shock of reading the letter Miku had delivered to him at her mother's request, but once he was of a stabler mind the man was completely willing to let Miku into his home.

It didn't take the teal-haired girl very long to move into the place, her possessions being only clothes, various books, and a few stacks of sheet music. Her uncle already had a piano, fortunately, and it was even reasonably in tune.

"Your father always said you have a gift," Miku's mother had told her just before she got into her cab. "And that's because you do. You owe it to yourself to nurture that, Miku. For both our sakes, don't give it up."

She had stopped crying by then – both of them had – but Miku could still see the tears that her mother was hiding beneath her small smile. They shared another hug before Miku finally had to depart, leaving the woman behind at the doorstep of the house she would never see again.

It took Miku some time to recover from that displacement. Even after several weeks at her new home, every evening she secretly hoped that the next morning she would wake up in her old bed, where she would get up and seek comfort in the arms of her mother from the horrible dream she'd just been through.

Her uncle was more than accommodating, and Miku was grateful for that. He was always doing his best to be supportive and hospitable, whenever he wasn't too busy.

"If there's anything I can do to make you more comfortable here, just ask," he would often say.

Miku appreciated the offers, but she never had anything to ask for. She had a feeling that the man was glad to have someone else in the house, but she didn't want to be any more of a burden to him than she already was. Her only way of paying him back for his hospitality was to perform on the piano for him, which, though she knew he loved it, was far from what she felt she owed.

But the bigger reason that Miku never asked anything from her uncle was because she knew he couldn't actually do anything to help her. From the day she arrived, she couldn't stop thinking about what must have happened to her mother. She had to have been arrested by now, already locked up in a debtor's prison somewhere, imprisoned alongside all the other families who'd committed the sin of over-ambition. It was the sacrifice she had made, Miku knew, but the more she thought of the woman alone in a stone jail somewhere, the more she wondered if there was any way she could have saved her. She had done so little compared to the rest of the family, and given the miserable state they were in, she began to realize that her sloth was just betrayal wearing a different mask. In her own way, she had abandoned her mother, and no matter how much she tried to fight it the guilt of that act ate away at her like a parasite.

Miku knew her mother couldn't get out of the Hell she'd thrown herself into on her own. That was what finally gave her the courage to want to change things.

One morning, Miku asked her uncle about where she could go to find work. The man was utterly surprised to hear her say anything of the sort.

"Why do you need the pay?" he asked.

"Because I want to get mama out of debtor's prison," Miku answered. "I'm going to start paying off the debt _now_."

The man smiled apologetically. "Your mother wouldn't want you to do that, Miku. If you don't keep practicing, you might not get into the Conservatory."

"I'll still be able to find time for that."

"Any job you'd find would be very demanding. They'd expect you to put in as many hours as someone who _doesn't_ have spend time practicing the piano, if not more, and even then the pay wouldn't be very good. But that's assuming you even find any openings – those of us with actual work experience can't always find employment."

"I'll look anyway."

The man sighed. "You'll just be wasting your time. But, I won't stop you."

* * *

For the next two weeks, Miku spent nearly every available hour of daylight searching the city for work. She stopped at every store she found, talked to every person that was carrying a delivery or working in the streets, and pored diligently through every page of every newspaper in the city for even one advertisement for a job opening. But no matter where she went, she found nothing. Even those few places that seemed to have positions available were uninterested in hiring her (though Miku comforted herself with the speculation that none of them probably paid very well anyway).

Her uncle was never arrogant or demeaning when she came home unsuccessful every night.

"You're trying your best," he would say. "Your mother would think that's enough. I know I do."

But Miku didn't. She wanted results, benefits from all her efforts, a means by which she could at least partially return the countless kindnesses her mother had given to her. But more importantly, she wanted her mother to be a part of her life again. As much as she hated to admit it, Miku knew nothing could be done for her father now; she would risk anything to keep her mother from the same fate, from disappearing into that unreachable void.

Yet, after she was sadly turned down by yet another grocer, Miku was beginning to lose hope. By this point, she wasn't even sure of how much of the city was left to search through. It felt as if she had combed through every stone in every road, every tile on every roof, and still found nothing; now there just didn't seem to be much point in continuing. The sun was beginning to set, and Miku was tired, not to mention she didn't like how empty the street was.

Except, not too far off, there were two young men in dark suits dashing across the cobblestone road.

"C'mon, hurry up!" one of them shouted. "You wanna be late for dinner on payday?"

Miku's ears pricked up at that last word. These two men, whom she was sure she'd never seen in her searches, were getting paid. These two men, young and presumably inexperienced, had jobs – not only that, but jobs enough to provide for expensive clothing. This was all the more baffling because Miku couldn't recall ever seeing people so young in such formal clothes: normally, they seemed to be reserved for the old and experienced, the keepers of profitable shops who'd clawed their way up through the ranks with the time and diligence Miku knew she couldn't afford to spend. The very sight of these two well-dressed men bemused her, but more importantly, it smelled of opportunity.

"Excuse me!" Miku shouted at the two men as she approached them. They both froze, perplexed at the girl's intrusion into their lives.

"Um, I'm interested in finding a job," she explained hastily. "You two seem well-paid, and I was, uh, wondering if, if..."

"You want in on our work, is that it?" one of the men said.

"Yes," Miku answered, nodding. "Yes, that's right."

The two men glanced at each other uneasily.

"She wants work?"

"That's what she said."

"But... _work_?"

"What else could she mean?"

"So, then, she _knows_?"

"If she didn't, she wouldn't have asked."

"Does that mean we should..."

"Yeah. It does."

"What? You sure the _capa_ won't mind?"

"She'll be fine. You know how she loves new recruits."

"Well, fine then."

They both turned back to Miku.

"All right. Come with us, we'll show you the way."

Miku's face lit up with glee. "Really? Thank you so much! This means the world to me."

One of the men chuckled. "I like your gusto. Keep it up, you'll need it."

They led Miku through dozens of streets in silence, until finally they arrived at an enormous gated mansion. Miku was immediately in awe of the sight, though she couldn't help but wonder why she had been brought to a home instead of a store or a factory.

A guard standing by the steel gate eyed Miku suspiciously.

"You two got a new one or something?" he asked.

"We'll see what the _capa_ thinks of her first," one of the men answered.

The guard shrugged and let the group through the gate. Soon, they were standing in the magnificent lobby of the mansion, which only further overwhelmed Miku with wonder. The place was beautiful, she thought, surely built by a master architect of days gone by. She had no idea such a marvelous building even existed in the city.

"Not bad, huh?" one of the men said, grinning at the bewildered girl. "The Kagamines know how to greet their visitors, that's for sure."

The other man jerked his head towards a nearby hallway. "C'mon. They're probably in the usual place."

They lead Miku down a labyrinthine series of halls, though she barely noticed the paths they were taking. At the moment, she was far too busy wondering who these "Kagamines" were and whether or not she should have heard of them.

The group soon arrived at a wooden door, and one of the men gave it a couple knocks.

"Signora! We've got a new one!"

The door creaked open, revealing a young man with blonde hair, wearing a rather striking tuxedo. He looked over the group, scowling.

"This is more than a little improper, _messeri_. Bringing someone new in here requires – "

"Oh, just let them in, Len!" came another voice from behind the door.

The blonde glanced behind him, sighed, and then opened the door fully. Miku and the two men stepped into the small room, where she could now see there was a table that two women were sitting at: one blonde, the other with green hair.

"I hope we haven't interrupted anything, signora," one of the men said.

The blonde woman smiled. "Not at all. Please, if you'd leave us."

The two men nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind them. Still smiling, the blonde woman motioned to an empty chair, which Miku immediately sat in. The room was scarcely furnished, she noticed, with the table and several chairs being its only contents. Not that there seemed to be much room for anything else.

"Good evening," the blonde woman said. "My name is Rin Kagamine, and this" – she motioned to the woman next to her – "is my associate, Sonika. And this is my brother and additional associate, Len. I suppose you could say the three of us are the core of our little business."

"I'm Miku Hatsune," the teal-haired girl stuttered out. "I'm... I'm really grateful you're considering me."

"Good to hear," Rin said. "So then, you're interested in joining us?"

"Yes," Miku answered immediately. "You see, I've been looking for work everywhere, but... well, there just hasn't been anything, so I thought..." She paused, realizing she was missing a crucial piece of information in her initial excitement. "Actually, can I ask what you do here?"

Everyone else stared at her blankly a few moments, until Len's laughter loudly shattered the silence.

"She doesn't even know what she's getting into! Come on, Rin, there's no way this one's worth our time. Let's get her out of here."

"No!" Miku shouted, almost pleading. "Please, I'll do anything! I could cook, clean, make deliveries, whatever you need!"

"Hold on, Len," Rin said. "We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss new members, wouldn't you say? Especially ones in such pitiable circumstances."

Miku's eyes brightened. "Then... you'll hire me?"

Rin chuckled. "It won't be as easy as that, I'm afraid. You'll have to impress us first." She reached under the table and set something down on its surface with a soft tap. Miku could only stare at it, scarcely believing what it was.

A gun. A small one, a revolver. The kind men on the streets used to kill.

She looked up at Rin, fearful. "I don't understand."

"Isn't it obvious?" the blonde asked. "Our business is order and trade, signorina. We're the source of stability for this city, and we make a considerable profit playing that part."

Miku's eyes widened in realization. This was a Family. Gangs of criminals, her mother had always called them, thieves who stole with the aid of a sword. She had never even been sure that they really existed. But now, she was sitting right in the midst of one, just like Daniel trapped in the lion's den.

"So naturally," Rin continued, "before you can join us, we have to see whether or not you're capable of shouldering that responsibility. Sonika, if you would."

The green-haired woman nodded. "Recently, one of our members was shot and robbed by a local thug," she explained. She produced a sketch of a young, unshaven man and slid it towards Miku. "His name is Marzio Gabbana, and this is an approximation of his appearance. He was last seen on _Via del Battuto__, _in the south side. We have maps if you're unsure of how to get there."

"But, what happens once I find him?" Miku asked in a small voice.

Rin laughed again. "You haven't caught on yet? Why, we want you to kill him."

Miku held back a gasp. As much as she'd seen that answer coming, she desperately wanted to believe it wasn't true.

"No," Miku said. "No, please, I couldn't possibly – "

"You did say you'd be willing to do anything, didn't you?" Rin said. "Still, I can understand how someone might be hesitant about something like this, and as much as I'd like to offer you another opportunity, I'm afraid this is the only job we need filled at the moment. However, should you be hired for it, I can assure you your compensation will be quite generous. We recognize the sort of the labor such work requires, after all."

Miku swallowed hard. Though the offer of a rich reward was tempting, she could barely imagine doing what was being asked of her, and every fiber in her being wanted to storm out on the spot, to leave this horrible place far behind. They wanted her to kill a man, to take a life, and even though it was a murderer's the very thought of the act horrified her.

But then she thought back on her failed searches, how now she had at last come across gold after such fruitless travels. It was an opportunity, and Miku didn't want to let it slip through her fingers.

After all, this was the only chance her mother had left.

Miku stared down at the gun in front of her for a long minute. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed the weapon, trying to see how best to hold it. The very touch of its metal against her skin was like acid, but she didn't dare let go.

"All right," Miku said. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Rin said. "Oh, but one more thing: we'll need you to show some sort of proof of the task's completion." She thought a moment, then her face lit up with inspiration. "Once you've killed this thug, bring us back one of his fingers. We'll call it a test of loyalty, hm?"

Miku swallowed again, then gave a small nod. Slowly, she got out of her seat, and Len led her out of the manor.

* * *

A ragged man in patch-ridden clothes rooted through a pile of trash in an alleyway, giving most everything he found a quick sniff before throwing it away in dissatisfaction. He's disgusting, Miku thought as she watched him from behind the corner of a nearby building. It seemed unlikely that he had any family, too, because Miku just couldn't imagine how a family could let someone live like this.

She wanted to let that thought make this task easier. But instead, it only made her pity the man: when he was gone, it would be as if he'd never even existed.

Miku knew this was the man she had been looking for. He was only a few blocks away from Via del Battuto, he looked exactly like the sketch Miku had been shown, and a few other people had even been able to identify him as Marzio Gabbana. If any of those people had any idea of why Miku wanted to find him, they certainly didn't show it.

Gritting her teeth, Miku huddled up against the wall with her gun in a tightly-held grip. She still didn't want to go through with this. She tried to tell herself that this man was a criminal, a thief, a murderer. He was no better than the man who'd shot and killed her own father; in killing him, Miku would just be doing justice, and protecting other people from further crimes. She'd only be doing what her father did in his campagnia. That had been enough to keep her on the killer's trail, but now that she actually saw the man, she felt hesitant.

Miku swallowed hard. She had to do this, no matter what her reservations were. It might be in service to thieves, but she would be helping the city. And more importantly, she'd have a chance to save her mother.

Taking a final deep breath, Miku left her spot on the wall and crept down the alleyway as quietly as she could, the gun held in both her hands. The filthy man turned towards her as she approached, and she froze in place at his piercing gaze.

"Something you want, signorina?" he growled.

Miku hesitated, her voice stuck in her throat. Slowly, she pointed the gun at the robber, trying her best to steady her trembling arms.

He raised an eyebrow, then gave a loud laugh. "What, you here because of that guy in the suit I bumped off? C'mon, you're not fooling anyone with that gun, signorina. Go home."

Miku swallowed once more and pulled back on the trigger with all her might. A deafening bang rang out from the gun, and Miku's arms suddenly screamed from the agony of a tremendous backwards force. The thug let out a cry of pain and fell down to his knees, tightly clutching his left leg.

"You little bitch!" he screamed. He pulled a crude knife out from his belt and hobbled back to his feet, growling as he limped towards the teal-haired girl.

Panicking, Miku took a long step backwards, but suddenly lost her balance and fell to the ground. The wounded man inched closer and began to raise his knife, still roaring in a horrible fury.

Miku pointed the gun back at the robber and, forcing her eyes shut in terror, gave the trigger another squeeze. A trickle of crimson burst forth from the robber's forehead, and his eyes rolled up towards the back of his head. Letting out a soft groan, his form crumpled to the ground like a discarded doll, the knife giving a loud clang as it crashed down against the stone.

The teal-haired girl stood back up, trying to calm her racing breath. The man before her was lying perfectly still, his mouth still open in a silent scream. Miku could barely stand to look at the sight, but she knew her works here wasn't finished.

They still wanted proof.

Still shaking, she stepped over the deep-red puddle flowing out of the corpse and picked up the knife that had fallen beside it. She forced down a sob, all too conscious of what she was doing, what she'd done.

_I'm sorry mama_, she thought. _I'm so sorry. But this is all I can do for you now_.

Miku knew her mother could forgive her for this, even if she couldn't forgive herself. She took comfort in that knowledge, if only so much, and drew some extra bit of strength from the feeling.

Slowly, she bent over the dead man's form and brought the knife down at the edge of his palm.

* * *

Rin was quite pleased with Miku when she returned. Len seemed satisfied too, in fact, which Miku found incredibly surprising given the cold demeanor he had previously shown.

"That was much quicker than most new ones do," Rin said, examining the dismembered finger Miku had given her. She set the bit of flesh aside and smiled at the girl. "I'm also impressed you brought that bit of proof back so easily. To be honest, I wasn't sure you were up for such messy work."

Miku stayed silent. Neither was she.

"In any case, I'm more than willing to let you join us now," Rin continued. "The next jobs for you will be easier, I can assure you. We'll give you some basic training and such – we don't want out employees to be ill-equipped for their work, you understand. And as I said before, you'll be compensated quite well for all that you do for us."

The words sent a jolt of panic through Miku. The _next_ jobs. She hadn't even been thinking about how there would be more.

Rin turned to her brother. "Shall we initiate her, Len?"

"Now's as good a time as any, I guess."

The young man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small photograph, which after a closer look Miku saw was of a portrait of a saint. A medieval painting, it looked like, with the subject clad in brown robes and a golden disk of a halo peeking over from behind his head. Next to the picture, Len set a knife and a match.

"By taking part in this ceremony," Rin began, "you will have pledged your undying allegiance to our Family, to Casa Kagamine. You will have sworn to obey your superiors' every order without question, and to regard those leaders with nothing but the highest respect. In joining us, you will have become part of our very kin and be regarded as one who shares our very blood; you will act with the honor such nobility entails, and you will tolerate nothing less in any other _familiare_. Miku Hatsune, to all of this do you swear, and on that oath join our Family?"

Miku hesitated. She had no idea so much would be asked of her so quickly by these people, all just to be hired by them. It certainly wasn't an oath she was willing to follow, she knew. But she was this far in already, and she realized there was nowhere else to go.

_It won't have to be for long_, she thought. Once she had enough to pay off the debt, she wouldn't have to be here anymore. She could go back to the piano and join the Conservatory, only this time her mother would be there to share in her successes.

It wasn't something she wanted to do. But surely, she wouldn't have to do it for long.

"I do," Miku finally swore.

Len slid the knife closer to the teal-haired girl. "Draw a cut along your finger," he ordered.

Miku hesitated, utterly shocked at the command. After a long moment's terror, she finally took a deep, silent breath and picked up the blade, then dragged its edge along the tip of her index finger. It stung horribly, and within a few moments the tiny wound was drooling out a few drops of dark ruby.

"Trace your finger along the face of the saint," Len ordered, "that your own blood may blend with ours."

She took another breath and did so, painting the calm face of the man in the picture with the sticky red fluid that was bleeding forth from her fingertip. Within a few moments, his face was completely obscured by the crimson liquid.

"Now," Len finished, "light the picture."

Hesitantly, Miku struck the match against the side of the table and brought the flickering end of the match up to the photograph. The fire caught on a corner of the picture, disintegrating the edge into a dry black powder and horribly warping every last inch of the image as it climbed across its surface. The picture began to curl up into itself, now lying on the table as a smoldering, shapeless mound. The blood-covered face of the man in the photo was wreathed in flame and slowly melting away.

Rin leaned in over the table, closing the distance between herself and the teal-haired girl. "If you ever break the vow you have just made," she said, "you will burn just like this saint. Never forget that, Miku Hatsune."

Miku didn't respond. _Not for long_, she kept repeating in her head. _Only for a little while_.

"And one more thing," Rin said. She produced a small cloth bag, the soft clink of coins crashing against one another sounding as she it onto the table. "Your payment for tonight. It's only a start, of course. The real money will come later."

Miku took the pouch and stowed it away in her dress. "When should I be back?"

"When you're needed again, we'll let you know," Rin said. "Of course, it would be much simpler for you to just live here, in the manor. I assure you, the rooms are magnificent, and it would only amount to a small deduction from your salary..."

"No, thank you," Miku interrupted. "I have family elsewhere that I'd rather not leave."

Rin smiled. "How noble. That's just the sort of loyalty we like to see," she said. "You may go now. I expect great work from you, Signorina Hatsune."

Miku nodded, stood up, and left the room. On the table, the picture of the saint was all but burned away.

* * *

"Where have you been for so long?" Miku's uncle asked when she got home later that evening.

Miku wasn't entirely shocked by his concern: it was already nightfall, and wandering the streets by oneself this late was something the man had every right to be worried about.

"I... found work," she said. "I was just finishing up there, is all."

The man raised an eyebrow, then finally smiled. "Well, I'm glad all that searching finally paid off, then. Does it pay well?"

"Oh, sure," Miku said, feeling the weight of the cloth pouch she'd hidden in her dress. "Very well."

"I'm glad. But, you can't expect to pay off the debt on your salary alone. Not unless you earn it for years on end, anyway."

Miku had seen the figure of what her family owed a few times, when she had gotten an occasional glance at one of her parents' spreadsheets, and as she thought about how much she'd been given for tonight's work alone, she decided it wouldn't take too long to pay things off. A few months, maybe a year at most – Rin had said Miku would be getting more as she kept working, after all.

She would be paying in blood money, she knew, and she wanted to abandon this plan because of that. But then she thought of how quickly this could all be over, how after only a matter of months she could have her mother back. Papa was gone, would always be gone, but now Miku had a chance to put what was left of her life back in order.

"I'll just do what I can to help," she said.

"That's good of you to say, but don't lose track of what your dreams. Your mother wouldn't want you to give up the piano just to chip away at what your father owes."

"I know," Miku said. She didn't want to stop playing, of course. This would just be a minor detour, and she would put her focus completely back on music once it was all over.

Only, she wouldn't practice tonight. She didn't want to dirty the ivory with the stains left on her fingers.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Miku slowly learned that Rin had told her the truth: work really did get easier.

From time to time, they would train Miku, teach her skills of her profession. She learned how to better handle a gun, how to silently break open a window, what vital points to target with a knife. She took it all in as quickly as she could, and even became reasonably skilled in what she was taught. If she was really going to go through with this line of work, she figured she ought to be prepared for it: as grisly as the job was, she didn't want to let her father's fate befall her, too.

But that wasn't the only way things became less difficult.

Every so often, Miku would be summoned back to the Kagamine manor by a note slipped under the door. It wasn't every day she was called, or even most days, but it was often enough to make Miku feel the Family's presence in her life, like an off-color part of the wall she couldn't quite cover up. Every time she was called, there would be another target for her, another wretch who had wronged Casa Kagamine in some way. At first, they would tell Miku of her quarry's crimes, of how the scum had stolen or robbed or murdered, and then they would give her an address, a contact, or maybe even a sketch of the criminal.

But then later, they began to leave out the specifics of what Miku's target had done, and it wasn't long until she was given just the address, the contact, the sketch. But invariably, Miku was given a name, an identity to erase from the text of the city.

And little by little, knowing that stopped bothering Miku as much as it had before.

"I'm sure this isn't always easy for you," Rin had said, "but just remember the value of what you're doing. You're cleaning up the grime that's collected, that's all. You're making things better and brighter for the rest of us – both your Family and everyone else."

Miku couldn't really argue with that. Everyone she hunted down was guilty of some crime, she knew, if not against Casa Kagamine then against someone else. She knew she would never be told to kill an innocent.

"That would be very bad for business," Rin had explained.

And with every name she erased, every face she burned away, Miku took another step towards her mother's freedom, as well as towards her own. The money she earned from each job steadily grew, and after a few weeks of work it became readily apparent that this was the best way to pay off the debt. But more than wages changed as time went on: when Miku began, she thought that every job would be just as painful and terrifying as her first, but somehow, she learned to numb herself to the fear and hesitance that had slowed her down then. But she was utterly thankful that she never fell so far as to _enjoy _her work.

Miku was always careful to never let herself get into a situation she couldn't handle. She learned ways of luring her targets into a false sense of safety, of catching the more dangerous ones off-guard. And somehow, she managed to never come home with anything more than a few scratches, which her uncle either never noticed or simply wasn't concerned about. In that sense, this job was an incredible deal for Miku: it was stable, low-risk, and incredibly well-paid. It was everything she could have wished for when she'd first started looking for work.

That was a very small comfort, most of the time – it did so little to distract Miku from what it was that she actually _did_, what it was that she would continue to do.

Even though she didn't have to put all that many hours towards her work, Miku began to practice less and less. It wasn't out of laziness or a lack of motivation: she still desperately wanted into the Conservatory, and realized that to do so she'd need a lot more time with her instrument. But it was becoming more difficult to focus on her playing, as if the spark that she had kept inside herself for so long was slowly dying away. Sometimes, when she played, her loudest chords would become the screams of all the men she'd shot, and her softest notes became their groans of agony. Other times, Miku couldn't even bring herself to touch a single key, if she even bothered getting out of bed.

She played well enough when it was time at last for her audition to the Conservatory. The only problem was that "well enough" didn't mean much in the face of hundreds of other "excellent"s. It didn't come as much of a surprise to Miku when she received a letter the next week regretfully informing her of the Conservatory's decision to deny her request for admittance.

"Don't worry," her uncle had said, "there'll always be next year."

Miku could tell he was covering up an ocean of disappointment, one that was maybe even greater than her own. The man seemed to have recognized the melancholy that Miku had developed over the past few months, despite how much the teal-haired girl had tried to hide it, and he'd spent all his time around her tip-toeing about the state of things. Miku knew he must have wanted her to be more enthusiastic, more vivacious, and she easily realized that her rejection made the development of that sort of vibrancy more unlikely in her uncle's eyes.

But it wasn't long after that failure when Miku suddenly found a reason to celebrate. She had gone through all her savings after one especially large payment, and found that she had finally reached her goal. She didn't have the precise figure of the debt to match her own earnings against, of course, but from what she remembered of the number, she was certain she had more than enough.

She didn't have the proper identification or records to make the deposit herself, but she knew of someone who did, and Miku decided it was high time she finally saw her.

One of the benefits of being given contacts in such low places was that Miku had been able to learn of where exactly her mother was being held. It was in a prison that, thankfully, was still within the city, and on the very evening when Miku realized the good news she ventured off to the place, eager to tell her mother of their new change in fortunes.

When she arrived at the prison, Miku couldn't help but feel intimidated by the cruel immensity of the place: its stone walls were tall and foreboding, and the guards outside were very slow to let her in, finally doing so only after Miku had slipped each a couple of coins. The jail's interior was just as huge, cold, and barren as the outside, and Miku shuddered at the knowledge that her mother had spent over a year in the place.

Behind a desk at the end of the entrance room was a balding man scrutinizing a great stack of papers, and at both of the gated doors on either side of him stood a tired guard.

Miku approached the desk and cleared her throat. The man glanced at her over his slim glasses, his expression calm but wearied.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm interested in visiting a prisoner," Miku said, and gave him the name of her mother.

"Any particular reason you want to see her?" the clerk asked.

Miku hesitated. "I want to talk with her about her debt. I might have a way to help her."

The clerk smiled. "How kind of you. And what is your connection to this woman?"

"She was my employer," Miku lied. She didn't completely trust giving an official the knowledge that she was the child of a debtor.

"All right then." The clerk filed through the stack of papers, then finally pulled out a single sheet and scanned over its text. He came to a stop in his reading and frowned.

"I'm terribly sorry," he said, "but it seems that Signora Hatsune is no longer with us."

The words filled Miku with a sudden and horrible dread. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"She's dead, most regrettably," the clerk said. "One of several victims to a recent and rather messy outbreak of cholera we've had here. Such things aren't uncommon, I'm afraid."

Miku stood there silent as the man spoke. It was all she could do. She wanted to feel as if she was forcing back tears, a scream, a protest, anything. But she wasn't. She went completely blank as she heard it all, filled not with denial or grief, but with emptiness. The world didn't become darker or colder; instead, it seemed to melt away entirely, like sand in the wind.

"Thank you anyway," Miku finally forced herself to say.

"I really am sorry," the clerk said. "It's all the more tragic that she didn't even have anyone outside to help pay off her debt, except maybe a brother she mentioned. Though, the records say she was supposed to have had a daughter, too. I wonder what happened to her."

The teal-haired girl turned towards the door. "So do I."

* * *

Miku didn't wait for a summons to return to the Kagamine manor. There was no reason for her to be with them anymore, no more drive to keep her walking along the crimson path they had forged for her. She wanted out, now.

The guards at the gates knew her well enough by now to simply let her through, so she went straight into the manor and quickly found Len, Rin, and Sonika gathered about the table in their meeting room.

"Why, Miku," Rin said, surprised. "What brings you here?"

The teal-haired girl swallowed. She knew she was treading on thin ice right now, but it was a risk she had to take.

"I would like to first thank you for the employment you've granted me," she said. "I'm very grateful that you gave me such plentiful work when I most needed it. But, I'm not in need any longer." She took a long breath, summoning up her confidence. "I'd like to quit."

The other three simply stared at her for a long, agonizing moment.

"How _dare_ you," Len finally said. "Did you think you agreed to a short-term job, something you could just leave behind as soon as you decided you'd gotten enough out of it? This is a Family, _your_ Family. You're bound to it as if by blood. Did your vows mean nothing?"

"Len, calm down a moment," Rin said. "Please, Miku, I urge you to reconsider. You've aligned yourself to us, and in doing so inherently agreed to never leave. Besides, you're a valuable and respected member of our society: you're an efficient assassin, and you strike down our foes as if you had the prowess of Diana herself. Your leaving would be a significant loss for us."

"I'm sorry," Miku said, "but this is still a job. I have the freedom to leave if I want."

Rin sighed. "I didn't want to say this, Miku, but you've forced my hand." She leaned back in her seat comfortably. "Isn't it true you have an uncle you're living with?"

Miku froze. "How did you know about that?"

"We don't like being uniformed about our members, Miku. If they keep secrets, we're forced to find them out." The blonde turned towards Sonika. "And isn't it also true that this uncle is the only family Signorina Hatsune has left?" she asked knowingly.

"It is," Sonika replied. "Aside from us, of course."

"Of course," Rin said. "Still, that biological kinship can be quite strong. It'd be a terrible shame if anything were to happen to this man, don't you think?"

Miku's eyes widened. "No. Please, you wouldn't – "

"His safety is up to you, not us," Rin said. "So the question is, are you going to make the right choice?"

Miku was silent a minute, then finally swallowed what last bit of resistance she thought she had left. "I'll stay," she said quietly. "I'm a _familiare_. I have no choice but to stay."

Rin smiled. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. Now run along, and don't worry yourself with such things again, hm?"

The teal-haired girl nodded, and solemnly left the room.

* * *

When Miku came back home that night, she knew she had no choice but to finally confess everything to her uncle. He was shocked to the core when he heard the true nature of his niece's job, even horrified. He might not have even believed Miku had she not shown him the immense earnings she had stashed in her bedroom.

"I'm giving it all to you," she told him. "Thanks to me, you're not safe in this city anymore – even staying in Italy might be dangerous. You need to take every penny and leave."

"I can't just leave you behind, Miku," he said. "Please, you have to come with me."

The teal-haired girl shook her head. "I'll only be putting you in danger. If Casa Kagamine spots me leaving the city, they'll kill us both. They won't find you if you travel alone: they only know _my_ face."

The man didn't accept that. Even when Miku finally convinced him to leave on his own, she knew he didn't accept it fully. But in spite of that, she somehow got him to sell his house for an extra scrap of money that he could use to help settle down elsewhere, though he still insisted on leaving Miku half of the earnings she'd given him. He said she could use it to get out of the country herself when things finally settled down, or in the meantime use it to find another place to stay. Miku tried to store the money in the bank under a false name, but when she went to make a withdrawal a few weeks later she found every penny was gone, lost in order to recuperate for a series of housing loans they were unable to collect on. The teller was quite apologetic when he told Miku of all this, but sadly there was little he could do for her, considering how her savings were all uninsured.

Once her uncle had left, Miku finally accepted Rin's offer of living in the manor. She hoped doing so would put her back in favor with the Family, that it would show she was truly willing to stay with them. But it was mostly because she didn't have anywhere else to go.

Her work with Casa Kagamine continued, but all the while she waited for an opportunity to escape. A point where they'd fire unnecessary _sicari_, where Len and Rin would leave for another city – any opening, no matter how slight, would at least give her a chance, some means to begin burrowing out from her prison. But that opening never seemed to come.

They made it clear that they had a watch on Miku. If she was late for dinner, they would pepper their mealtime conversation with the subtlest of threats and purposefully serve her less food; if she was late coming back to the manor in the evenings, the next day they would lock her door from the outside. It was only after her salary had dropped that they finally eased their grip on her. The decrease in her wages had been so subtle Miku didn't even notice it at first, but slowly, she realized it was another effort to keep her dependent on their supervision and care.

And as much as she hated to admit it, it was working.

If Miku's uncle ever wrote her, she never got the letters. Maybe they got lost in the mail, maybe the _cavalieri_ were keeping them from her – she didn't know. It quickly became that the only people she ever had contact with were those in the Family, if anyone at all.

They made every effort to keep Miku comfortable, to make her cage one of gold. The meals they provided were delicious and plentiful (something Miku didn't even realize was possible), and Rin constantly offered to get her anything that was on her mind. All she ever asked her for was an upright piano to be put in her room, but despite how infrequently she had to work, she never seemed to find the time to practice.

Whenever a job was given to Miku, she carried it out without question. A name and a place became enough, and she even stopped wondering about the lives lying behind the both of them that she would soon erase. They probably wanted her to take pride in her work, but she carried it out mechanically, with efficiency but not a hint of passion. In the end, that must have been enough to satisfy them, even enough to consider her a top assassin.

That was why Miku wasn't entirely surprised to hear Rin one day give her the name of a nobleman:

_Don Fausto Marciano_. Capofamilia.

* * *

A/N: Wow. My longest chapter yet, and I didn't even advance the plot. A little ironic, no?

Anyway, I apologize for the delay on this, but midterms caught up with me and made editing and such a little more difficult. I hope the next update won't take as long, though.

_Tesora, carissimo, ciccina_: literally "treasure," "dearest," and "fat one" (though contextually its meaning is much, _much_ closer to "darling") respectively, though I group them all together here because they're all just common Italian terms of endearment.

_Compagnia_: company or union. The idea here was inspired by actual 19th century Sicilian law enforcement groups called "companies-at-arms," which were untrained supplements to police forces (often made up of former criminals) that would take back stolen property from thieves in exchange for a fee from the victims.

Also, aficionados of the Sicilian _Cosa Nostra_ group might recognize Miku's initiation rite as directly inspired by the initiation ceremony described by the mafioso Giovanni Brusca following his arrest.


	12. Chapter 12

The skies above San Valeriano Cathedral were a dull gray, and the dozens of clouds hanging in their sphere threatened a heavy rainfall. A slight breeze blew into the stone chamber atop the church's bell tower, lowering the cool temperature that the evening air had ushered in.

Miku leaned over the open belfry window, her hand clutching the crescent-shaped pendant that hung about her neck. The woman wearing this necklace's counterpart was out in the city somewhere, Miku knew, and she wanted to believe that she could feel the warmth of her skin, her heartbeat, her every emotion, just by focusing hard enough on the bit of silver in her hand. But no matter how much Miku thought of that other woman, no matter how vividly her smile shone in her head, she felt more alone than ever before.

She gazed out at the vast quilt of concrete and bricks sprawled out before her. It was the sight that had given her a sense of comforting solitude when she had been most in need of escape, its vast majesty once presenting her with an illusory freedom. She'd used it to remind herself of the immensity of the outside world, how there was always something beyond the bars that she was trapped behind, because knowing that external realm existed gave her the smallest bit of hope. It made her believe, deep down, that she could one day embrace whatever great beyond that was out there, waiting for her.

But now, this grand spread of cityscape represented something painfully real, and no matter how much Miku longed to see it as she had before, its transformation was over and done, a fixed point in her turbulent mind. It was no longer a secret now, but a joy that she had shared with Luka, and somehow, that made it inseparable from the woman herself.

Only a few hours ago, that would have made this sight fill Miku with the immeasurable happiness she felt whenever she was with the pink-haired woman. Now, it only made the blood on her hands more visible, and the shackles around her wrists squeeze even tighter.

For the first time in years, the thought of taking a life was painful to her. For so long, she had simply gone numb to the feeling, as if it were faint hum in the back of her head that she had learned to block out. But the hideousness of that noise had begun to edge its way back inside her ears. That she was being told to spill blood no longer just horrified her – it filled her with a heavy and terrible guilt.

This wasn't because of a sudden inner revelation of some kind, as if her former gentility had somehow been rekindled. It was because now, she was being forced against the dearest companion she could have ever hoped for, the saint who'd visited her in her time of desperate need. The woman who had trusted her, had _loved_ her, would die by Miku's hand if she simply obeyed the Kagamines' vile words. It would be more than betrayal, more than simply taking advantage of a kind, beautiful person's trust; it would be the foulest crime Miku had ever committed, a treason worse than any other she could imagine.

That alone should have told her why she wouldn't do it. Luka was the one bit of light that had found its way into her life, and now Miku was being told to extinguish it. As horrible as the act itself was, worse still was the thought of being left without the woman in her life, to be once again completely alone in a dark corner of the city. It would be as if Miku had murdered herself, as if she'd done away with what was left of her spirit.

She wanted a way out of this, any way. But no matter how long and hard she wracked her brain, she saw no other options. There was nowhere she could flee to, and even if there was, she didn't see the point in going somewhere without Luka. She had considered simply seeking the protection of her lover, but she couldn't bear to even think about how she would react to learn that Miku was an assassin, a killer, much less the one who had murdered her old _capofamglia. _That thought on its own raised up so much horror, so much doubt. Luka had been a _familiare_ all along, Miku now knew, but it wasn't the fact that the other woman's hands were dirtied that terrified her; it was that, from the very beginning, the two of them had unknowingly been enemies. The only reason their relationship had bloomed was because their opposition was kept hidden from them both, and now, Miku could only think about how bringing that knowledge to light would make all that they had built up crumble apart in the blink of an eye. _Fiercely loyal_, the papers had said, _among Casa Marciano's most devoted _familiari. Surely, she would condemn Miku for her loyalties, surely she would punish her for them. As ashamed as Miku was to realize it, the thought of Luka hating her was far more painful than the thought of Luka dying while still loving her.

Miku slowly ran her fingertips along the barrel of the revolver hidden under her dress, the cold steel burning and biting against her skin. More than anything else, she wanted Luka in her life, to still have that ray of light in her darkness, but that seemed so impossible now. She couldn't even begin to imagine what could happen to her if she disobeyed Casa Kagamine now, what kind of horrible retribution they would have in store for her. She'd only vaguely heard of what Families do to their dissidents, but even that was enough to make her dread what could happen to her if she refused the Kagamines' orders.

She clutched the silver pendant even more tightly. It was so cowardly, so completely selfish of her to think this way, she knew. She wanted to run from Luka, her Family, the city, everything. She wanted to throw every last bit of reality away and to avoid this hellish crossroads completely. But freedom wasn't an option anymore. Miku had signed it away the moment she picked up the gun she now carried.

She tore herself from the belfry window and walked back down the staircase, emerging into the main lobby of the cathedral. She stopped near the exit, where several curtained confessionals sat, each one towering over her like a row of giant, wooden judges.

"_You probably think some of these criminals deserve mercy_," Rin had said, "_but you must never forget that some people are far past forgiveness_."

Solemnly, the teal-haired girl turned away from the booths and walked out of the cathedral. In the sky, the waning moon was obscured by the gathering dark clouds.

* * *

In the embrace of the evening air, Miku decided that what she wanted was some other distraction, some way to delay a decision, and she began to wander the city streets. She had no destination in mind, traveling the cobblestone only on impulses and the simple desire to escape whatever shadow she could feel close at her back.

But the empty streets she walked along did little to keep herself from her anxieties, her situation. Every thought she had seemed to lead back to where she was and to the choice she would have to make, but she couldn't bring herself to make up her mind. There were no victories anywhere, no evil better than any of the others set before her.

And then, the decision made itself.

The teal-haired turned another corner, and there, walking down the street in front of her, was the woman she had been desperately trying to avoid, to protect through her absence.

"Miku?" Luka asked, her face awash with surprise. "I didn't expect to run into you out here."

"Me neither," Miku said, trying to recover from her own shock.

The pink-haired woman smiled. "I always find it pleasant to take a walk in the evenings, though I suppose I went a little later than normal tonight. But I found you, so that makes it quite the fortunate outing."

"Of course," Miku said as calmly as possible.

"Are you out for any particular reason? If you're going somewhere, I can come with you, if you'd like."

"No," she quickly said. "No, I was just... out for a walk. Like you."

"Well, I'm just about finished wandering about now," Luka said. "Would you like to come back home with me? Unless you'd prefer to show me your home, of course. I _would_ like to see it sometime..."

"No, that's all right," Miku blurted out. "I'd love to go back with you."

Luka smiled again, radiating a soft bliss that filled Miku with guilt instead of warmth. She had no idea what the teal-haired girl was planning, what despicable impulses her deceiving lover was now following. Miku couldn't turn back now, neither of them could. Their dance was nearing the crash of gunpowder that would signal its end.

"Very well," Luka said. "Shall we go, then?"

She led Miku down through the familiar city streets, every building casting a shadow of condemnation at her from its deteriorating walls. After what should have been an eternity under their scrutiny, the two finally arrived at the gates of the Megurine manor, and they strode into the mansion with an easy pace.

"Say, Luka," Miku asked as they arrived in the lobby. She couldn't even bear to look the other woman in the eyes. "Do you... think you could give me that tour of your house now?"

"You want me to start when it's already this late?" Luka asked. "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but there's a lot to show in the manor. It could take a while."

"No, that's... that's perfect." A delay had been just what Miku was counting on. Something, anything to give her a few last moments with the other woman, some way of forestalling this end she was being forced towards.

"Well, if it's fine by you, then certainly." She motioned towards a hallway and began to lead Miku down it. "I think we ought to start this way. You already know the history behind the parlor, so the next logical room would be the dining hall. There's actually quite a bit to say about it." She paused. "Unless you didn't want me to talk about the rooms in such detail, of course."

"No, I'd love to hear it," Miku replied. "Please, take all the time you want."

The pink-haired woman laughed softly. "My apologies, but I thought I should ask. It's not always terribly interesting to hear about family histories, is it? But I promise I'll give you the opportunity to tell yours as well."

"That's all right," Miku said, still staring at the floor. "There really isn't all that much to say."

Luka frowned. "Are you all right, Miku? You've been quite... distant this whole evening."

"I'm fine," Miku immediately replied, forcing her head up to meet Luka's gaze. She had forgotten how lovely the woman's eyes were when she was concerned about her, how compassionate she could become simply at the thought of her lover being troubled. It seemed so bizarre that she could ever hurt anyone, let alone that she made her living by it. Being a _familiare_ truly was a profession with Janus's blessing.

"Are you sure?" Luka lightly brushed the backs of her fingers against Miku's cheek. "If there's anything wrong, please, don't hesitate to tell me."

"No, really, I'm all right," Miku said, forcing herself to smile. "You were talking about the dining hall?"

Luka stood back up straight, her expression still a bit concerned. "Yes, yes I was. Anyway, back in the days when more of the extended Megurine family lived in the manor, this room served as a more important gathering place for everyone, the servants included." She began to lead Miku down the hall again, her the greater part of her worry apparently lost in the teal-haired girl's reassurances. "Meals were always very important to my parents, and I think that's where it came from. At least, where it came from in my father. In any case, they both were quite insistent that I arrive for meals well before they were served, and they were very particular about the quality of the food itself. More than once they actually sent a dish back to the kitchen because they felt it wasn't up to their standards. It always made me feel sorry for the cooks, since I never liked making extra trouble for those we employed."

She continued on and on about the room and whatever stories lay behind it, Miku only giving small nods and half-hearted chuckles at the appropriate moments. Luka never fully lost the worry in her eyes, but apparently took Miku too much at her word to do anything about the concern that she was doubtlessly forcing down. Miku almost wished that the other woman could see inside her head, that she could somehow discover her every thought without her having to voice them. Maybe then she would see the sadness Miku was dying to let out, the regret and guilt that she was too busy forcing down to actually express.

Luka led Miku further through the manor, the pink-haired woman stopping every so often to enter a room she considered of particular interest. There were various studies with especially old manuscripts, guest rooms where someone of historical interest had supposedly stayed, galleries where old masterpieces hung on the walls – but all of it just flew past Miku. She knew she should have found it all fascinating, that she should have been humbled by the fact that she had grown so intimate with someone with such a rich background, yet none of it would sink in. She heard the sweet sound of Luka's voice, even relished in it, but the words she spoke just blended together with one another.

They entered another study at the far side of the building. "And here's the last room worth mentioning," Luka said. "It's actually one of my favorites, despite how little there actually is to set it apart from the other studies. I suppose I just find it especially secluded, somehow, and that makes it quite the comfortable place to read."

She turned her back to Miku, motioning to the different spots of interest in the room as she explained their importance. Miku swallowed hard. This was the final stop, the other woman had said. She tried desperately to fight back her regret, her guilt, all so that she commit the crime she had never backed out from. Slowly, with an unfamiliar hesitance, she drew her revolver out from under her dress.

"_Loyalty has its rewards_," Rin said, "_and disloyalty its punishments. For you, both shall be immense_."

Luka's voice stopped a moment. "Miku, there's actually something I've been meaning to tell you," she began again. "You see, the truth is... The truth is that I'm actually a – "

The teal-haired girl brought down the gun's hammer with a soft _click_ and raised it towards the woman in front of her. Luka turned back around at the noise, her face flooded with a horrible shock.

"Miku?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

_No hesitation_, Miku thought, _just like before, just like always._ She tried to fight down all the voices screaming at her that this was wrong, that there had to be another way. She knew better; now there could be no turning back.

Luka's expression stiffened as realization spread across her face. "You already know who I am, don't you? Who I really am."

"I'm sorry, Luka," the teal-haired girl said softly. Somewhere, a voice called for her to pull the trigger, to end this one just as she'd ended all the countless others. But her finger wouldn't budge.

"So what is this?" Luka asked, her voice quivering. "Who are you with? The police? Another Family?"

Miku didn't answer. No matter how much she fought, every muscle in her body refused to move.

"Was this your plan all along?" Luka looked on the verge of tears, her eyes screaming an infinite hurt. "Everything you said, everything you did... Was it all just – "

"No." Miku's voice was still soft, even pained, and as she spoke again she could feel the chaos inside her slowly fighting its way upward. "Please, Luka, I didn't know, I never knew. From the moment I saw you..." She swallowed again. "...I know I loved you."

Luka's wounded stare cut through Miku like a thousand knives. "Then why?"

"...I didn't want to." Her arm dropped an inch, the rigidness in her body beginning to collapse. "They told me I had to, that it was vital to them..."

"Is that all I am to you?" Luka asked in a loud whisper. "The moment you're given an order against me, I'm just another target? Is that who I've been seeing all this time, nothing more than a _killer_?"

"What would _you_ have done?" Miku shouted. "If _your_ Family ordered you to kill me, what would _you_ have done? Can you really say you'd just ignore them, that they don't have any hold on you? They're _everywhere_, Luka! If I disobey them, they'll know..." As her voice trembled more and more, the tears she'd been so desperately keeping back began to break free. The strength finally drained out from her arm and the gun clattered to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Luka," she said through her sobs. "I was never strong enough to disobey them, even when they turned me against you. Everything they made me do was so wrong, so unforgivable, but I _never_ disobeyed. I'm a coward, and I betrayed you..."

Luka was silent, her eyes now downcast.

"I tried to tell myself I could do it," Miku said. "I felt so powerless against them that I thought I had no choice. I thought I _had _to kill you. But I can't do it. I could never hurt you, Luka. Please, you have to believe me, I didn't want things to come to this. But when they find out I disobeyed them..." Another wave of tears surfaced in her, cutting of her words. It took every ounce of strength left in her to stay standing, to not give in to her every impulse and collapse onto the floor.

"Luka," she finally said, her voice steadier. "...I want you to kill me."

The other woman was struck across the face with horror. "What? Miku, no, you can't mean – "

"I do mean it," Miku said, more firmly now. "I've done so many horrible, despicable things, so many I've lost count. But this is the worst crime I've ever committed. I don't deserve you, I'm past forgiveness." Salt still stung in her eyes, wetness still ran down her cheeks, but it no longer left her ashamed. "I don't want my life to end at their hands, Luka. I don't want them to have that final victory over me, for them to prove that they really were in control all along. But there's no other way to escape them." Through the waves of crushing emptiness still thrashing about inside her, she managed a small smile. "I wouldn't mind being killed if it was by you. I want my life to be yours to take."

"Don't say that!" Luka cried. "Please, I could never do anything to hurt you, Miku. I swear to you, we'll find another way out of this – "

"What other way could there be?" Miku asked. "This is for your sake too, Luka, not just mine. I'm of a rival Family, I'm an enemy now. Your Family will want me dead, and you have to obey them..."

Suddenly, Miku was caught in a tight embrace. A hand lightly rested on the back of her head, holding her close against the other woman's chest.

"It's all right," Luka said softly. "Don't worry. I promise, no matter what happens, I'll be here to protect you. I love you too much to let you face this alone."

Miku let her resistance die away and sank into the embrace. She leaned further into Luka's breast, the beating of her heart the most soothing sound in the world. Slowly, her tears resurfaced, and she tightened her own arms about the other woman as she broke out into quiet sobs.

"It's all right," Luka whispered. "It's all right, it's all right."


	13. Chapter 13

"C'mon, what do you think it looks like?"

Luka squinted up at the passing cloud Miku was so enthusiastically pointing at, one of few roaming about in the azure sky.

"I really can't say," she answered.

"What?" Miku said, incredulously. "Why not?"

"It's too shapeless. It could be anything."

The teal-haired girl gave a small giggle. "That's the whole idea, Luka. It can be anything you want it to be, just as long as the vaguest part of the image is there." She leaned over towards Luka. "For example, I see a rabbit. See? Those are its ears."

Luka scrutinized the patch of sky again. "Oh. Yes, I see it now."

"So? What do you think it looks like?"

"I just said, a rabbit."

"No, I mean what do _you_ think it looks like, not just what _I _saw. C'mon, you have to see something else, right?"

"All right." She looked once more, a little more intently. "I don't know... A duck, I suppose."

"You suppose?"

"Yes. Look, that's its beak, and those are its feet."

Miku laughed. "I didn't know you were so creative."

"What do you mean?" Luka asked, taken aback. "Don't you see it?"

"I have to squint a little, but yes, I do." She smiled up at the other woman. "Don't worry, the point is to see different things. It's no fun if we both see the exact same image. I mean, you don't look at a painting to see what someone else finds in it, do you?"

"No," Luka said, now smiling herself. "I suppose not."

They both looked back out at the little sea of grass before them, leaning back on their own patch of green. The park that lay in the center of the city was not particularly large, but it was remarkably well maintained, which was all the more surprising given that it was established by the local government. Not that Luka minded. It was refreshing, somehow, to have a place like this to retreat to for free.

"It's so beautiful here," Luka said, surveying the grounds again. "I can't believe I never tried to spend more time here. It's just so incredible that in all this city, there's this bit of nature."

"Yeah," Miku chuckled. "To be honest, I never came here all that often either. I thought it was a bit too open, I guess."

"We can leave if you're uncomfortable," Luka said, suddenly worried.

"Not, it's fine," Miku reassured her. "I don't mind it all that much, now that I'm here _with_ someone."

Luka smiled. "I'm glad."

Off in the nearby trees a bird chirped, one of the few still left this time of year.

"Are you sure this is going to be okay?" Miku said. "Keeping me with you, I mean."

"How could it not be?" Luka asked, bewildered by the question.

"I'm... still an enemy, Luka. I had orders to kill you, and I tried to follow them. Even if you can forgive me for that, I'm not sure your Family will."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Why? Will you hide me from them?"

"I've no intention of keeping you a secret, Miku. I love you, and I would be doing you an injustice if I hid that from my friends and colleagues."

"But, once they learn you're harboring an enemy..."

"You're _not_ an enemy." Luka looked the teal-haired girl straight in the eyes, her gaze stern yet warm. "Whatever you've done in the past doesn't matter. All that's important is that now, you're with me."

Miku hesitated. "Is it really? Whatever I've done?"

"Of course, Miku. I mean that."

"But... will your Family really agree?"

"They will once I explain your side of the story to them. I'm on good terms with my _capa_, you know. She's a friend, she'll listen to me."

Miku was quiet again, apparently reassured.

"Luka, I've been wondering something," she finally spoke up. "I wasn't focused last night. My guard was down, and I know you realized that. You could've easily subdued me."

"You know I would never have hurt you, Miku."

"But I had a _gun_ pointed at you. It would've been safest to have just drawn your sword on me the moment I hesitated."

"But I didn't want to," Luka said. "I think, deep down, I knew you weren't going to fire."

Miku smiled. "Somehow... hearing that makes me really happy."

"You trust me so much. It wouldn't be right if I couldn't return that."

She gave a soft sigh. "You're right. I guess that's why it feels so strange to still be worried about all this. I should know it's all probably going to work out, in the end."

"If you're still worried, there's one thing you could do," Luka said. Her tone became more somber. "I need to know who you were working for."

Miku's eyes widened. "What? Luka, I can't – "

"If I can tell my _capa_ that you've been cooperative with us, she'll be much more likely to overlook the fact that you once took orders from the Don's killers. This is the best way to keep you safe, Miku. We can't get rid of your former Family unless we know who they are."

"But, if my they found out I betrayed them..."

"How could they possibly learn that?" Luka asked. "Once we know which one attacked us, we'll pursue them immediately. They won't have a chance to learn who exposed their crimes."

"You can't expect to just do away with all of them at once," Miku said. "What if some of them escapes you? I'd be the most likely suspect if they'd be looking for revenge. Even now, they're probably wondering why I haven't reported in, and once they're attacked, they'll – "

"Miku." Luka's voice had grown firmer as she stared the teal-haired girl straight in the eyes. "You can't live the rest of your life in fear of these people. They're not as powerful as you think, I promise. I'll be able to protect you from them."

"But..." Miku swallowed. "Will you be able to protect yourself, too?"

"I won't do anything to let myself be needlessly hurt," Luka answered. "I promise, I'll stay at your side."

Miku looked off. "I'm just feeling guilty, is all. Like I dragged you into too much."

"This is my job. You ought to know that no matter what, there will be danger involved."

"And that just worries me. I wish we could both be free of it all."

"Do you mean you want me out of my Family?" A touch of ice was in Luka's words.

"How much better could yours really be from mine?" Miku asked quietly. "I'm not sure spilling blood is ever a worthwhile job. I know it's something I'll never go back to."

"My Family is more than that," Luka said. "We enforce justice where it does not exist otherwise, and we bring order where nature believes there should be chaos."

"Then why is there still so much crime, so many desperate people? Can you really say you're making this city better?"

"Would you trust the _police_ to get rid of your old Family?"

Miku frowned in thought. "No," she finally sighed. "I don't think I would."

"But surely you'd trust me to take care of them, yes?"

"I trust you with my life, Luka."

The pink-haired woman put a hand on Miku's shoulder. "Then please. Tell me who you were working for."

Miku stared at the ground in front of her a long moment, then took several quick glances about the empty park. Finally, she leaned in towards Luka's ear. "Casa Kagamine," she whispered.

"I should have known," Luka said. "A young Family. I've heard rumors of their _capa_'s ambitious nature, but that they would show this much disregard for the balance of power in the city..." She turned back towards Miku. "Why did they want me dead?"

"Because they wanted to use your murder to frame Casa Rinaldi," Miku answered. "They said something about putting Casa Marciano 'back on the trail.'"

"So all the evidence against Casa Rinaldi was just planted?"

"I think they said something about that, yes. But I'm not positive. They didn't let me in on their plans all that much."

"Do you know which of them killed Don Marciano?"

Miku's voice caught in her throat. "...They never told me who did it," she finally said.

Luka sighed. "I suppose that isn't as important. So long as we bring the right Family to justice, we will be righted. I had ask, you understand."

"No, of course," Miku said, forcing a small, apologetic smile.

The breeze picked up a moment and the rustling of nearby leaves filled the air.

"How many... do you think you killed under their orders?" Luka finally asked.

Miku's eyes widened. "Why would you want to know that?"

"I'm sorry, that was improper of me," Luka said quickly. "It's just that, last night... I could tell that I wasn't your first target."

The teal-haired girl swallowed. "No, you weren't. I already said that you weren't."

"I'm so sorry, Miku, I shouldn't have brought this up – "

"It's all right," Miku cut in. "I think... maybe I want to tell someone about it."

Luka put her hand over Miku's, concern growing in her eyes. "Were you always doing it out of fear of them? Were you really forced into it?"

"At first, it was just because I needed the money," Miku said. "That wasn't a good enough reason, but I didn't see that then. I wanted to stop, I wanted to stop so desperately... Eventually, there just came a point where I couldn't take it anymore. That was when I finally realized they weren't going to let me leave."

"But, they're a Family," Luka said. "Surely they only sent you after criminals. Wasn't that any kind of comfort?"

"They said I'd never kill anyone who didn't have it coming. But I don't think that means I've never killed an innocent."

"Would they really have been that reckless?"

"If it meant that their power would be secured, then yes."

"You can't do that by killing innocents, Miku. They wouldn't have sent you against anyone who hadn't wronged them somehow."

"But that doesn't mean they were all criminals. And that doesn't mean I was enforcing justice."

Luka thought a moment. "I suppose if they'd stoop so law as to kill a _capofamiglia_, they can't be trusted to have much honor elsewhere."

"They were quick to use force, whenever they could. And I let them keep doing it all."

"So how many were there, in all?"

"I've lost count," Miku said. "There's just... so many of them. Thieves, murderers, people who wouldn't pay their debts – then there were so many who I never knew what they did. It didn't bother me then, not so much, but now..." She shook her head. "Now I wonder why they had to go, whether there was ever any actual reason for them to die. So many are gone because of me, but I knew so little about any of them, and now all the names I was given just blur together. Sometimes I still see their faces. Whenever I think of them, it feels if ghosts are following. The memories haunt me. When I'm left alone with them, all I hear is them howling."

"Just know all that's behind you now," Luka said. She gave Miku's hand a squeeze. "I'll be here for you. You won't have to shake off those regrets alone."

A smile broke across Miku's lips and she leaned against Luka, resting her head on her shoulder. The afternoon sun seemed to feel warmer, as if it cut more deeply through the cool air of the fading day.

"How many would you say you killed?" Miku finally asked, quietly.

Luka almost chuckled. "I never kept count in the first place. The ones I dealt with never deserved that kind of recognition."

"Are you sure that's true for all of them?"

"I am," Luka said. "They were killers and thieves, ever last one. They were all no better than the animals who killed my parents."

"Is that really all that's driving you against them?"

"I'm not so ignorant as to say it's not a part of it. But I'm also not so naive as to think that I'm avenging them with every criminal I bring to justice. There's the honor of my Family at stake, the safety of the city and its people – I'm fighting more on their behalf than my own." She hesitated, starting to see the full weight of her words. "That... doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No," Miku said. "I don't agree with what you're doing, but if you're so sure of its righteousness I don't want to argue about it. I haven't forgotten how you saved me from that thief, you know. I'm sure you do the same for others, too."

"But, doesn't it upset you that I've killed, too?"

Miku smiled slightly. "It sounds strange, but I think I'm almost thankful you have. Somehow, I think it helped us to trust each other."

"What do you mean?" Luka asked, surprised.

"I don't think you can completely hide that you've taken a life. Even if you think it was right, that they deserved it, every death weighs you down inside." She gazed back at the stretch of grass. "I think maybe that's what we saw in each other when we first met. But for some reason, instead of distrust there was understanding. I don't know why it was that way, to be honest. Maybe we both wanted to find someone who could accept even the darkest parts of ourselves."

"Or maybe there's even more to it than that."

Miku looked back up, confused. "Like what?"

"I've been giving more thought to what you said before, about reincarnation," Luka said. "And the more and more I consider it, the more sense it makes to me."

"What makes you say that?"

"The same reasons you gave." She looked deep into Miku's eyes. "You truly do seem so familiar to me, Miku. I open up to you as if you were family, I trust you more than people I've know for years, and I can't fully explain why. When I look at you, I feel secure, like I've come home after a long journey." She smiled. "I don't believe this is the first time we've met. And I don't believe it will be the last."

"That doesn't sound like anything you'd normally say," Miku giggled.

"But I mean it," Luka said. "How I feel towards you... It's as if you pulled me, like gravity. It's more than anything I've ever felt before."

"I believe you," Miku said. "I'm just surprised you said it so easily."

"You don't think I'm that dishonest with myself, do you?" Luka asked, still smiling.

Miku laughed. "You've been slow before, you know."

"I suppose I have." Luka looked back out at the green landscape before her, still immersed in the bit of respite from the nearby urban walls. "It was difficult, at first, to let you in as much as I wanted to. I had spent so long a time with just my Family, and the Don always taught me how I should respect and trust them so... I suppose, in a way, I let my devotion to them keep myself at a distance from those outside the Family. I let my trust of them mean distrust of anyone else." She looked back at Miku. "I'm glad you showed me otherwise. I can't imagine being without you."

The teal-haired girl smiled brightly. "Neither can I."

She nuzzled a little closer against Luka's shoulder, and Luka leaned her head against Miku's. Neither noticed the green-haired woman watching them from a distance.

* * *

"You're back early, Sonika."

A shutting of the door bouncing off the small room's walls. "As it turns out, I didn't have to look very hard to find out what we needed to know."

"You mean you know what happened?"

"Not entirely. But it's enough to know we were wrong."

The resonance of a male voice. "If she wasn't killed, what happened? Did she just escape? Why hasn't she reported back to us?"

"That's the curious part. I saw her with _La Oltranza _herself."

"You... you can't be serious."

"I shouldn't have to ask, but, you're certain it was her?"

"Completely. They were both in the park, sitting together. Rather... intimately, I might add."

"You can't mean... Hatsune is... with _her_, of all people?"

"That's what appears most logical."

"But _why_? How could she possibly have found shelter with Megurine?"

"It seems to me that they already knew one another. It would explain a lot, wouldn't it? Perhaps all those mysterious absences of hers were just to see Signora Megurine. She never had anywhere else to go to before."

A rising panic in his tone. "Rin, we have to find her, _now_! She's been a traitor this entire time!"

"Perhaps she has, Len. Or perhaps she wasn't aware of who exactly she was seeing at first. It isn't as if _familiari _are in any habit of revealing their profession to strangers."

"But she knows _now_, doesn't she? And for all we know, now she's going to turn against us! She's jeopardized everything!"

A sigh. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. We have no choice but to assume she's told Signora Megurine everything she knows. It's far too risky to just keep this scheme going."

"So I assume now we retreat?"

"Please, Sonika. 'Retreat' is such an unpleasant word. We're just cutting our losses, that's all."

"And what about Hatsune?"

"Getting rid of her can have its own purpose now." A smile. "After all, she's a traitor. We can't let that go unpunished, can we? Only now, we can make Casa Marciano do the work for us."

"And the rest of the plan is to be carried out as well, yes?"

"Naturally." The sliding of papers across a table. "You know what to do, Sonika. _La Oltranza_ awaits."

* * *

Luka didn't wait long to make her way back to the Marciano manor. As soon as she'd finished dinner with Miku she was out in the streets again, hurrying to tell Lily of what she'd just learned. Thankfully, Miku didn't take any offense at her rapid departure. For all the horrors her own Family had put her through, she seemed to understand the loyalty Luka held towards her fellow _familiari_, even sympathize with it. Or maybe she just wanted to see her former oppressors finally be brought to justice, even if it would be for a far different crime. The knowledge that a Family had been manipulating the teal-haired girl for so long still made Luka's blood boil. A Family was supposed to make its members feel welcomed and interconnected, not imprisoned – it was almost unthinkable that Miku had been so wronged by one, that she'd been so exploited. The thought only made Luka more driven against her unseen enemy. They had wronged two of the most important people in her life, and even gone against the very principles with which a Family was meant to operate. It was an incredible relief to know that they would soon pay for their crimes.

The streets and buildings all seemed to blur past her as she walked, her pace determined and quick. In spite of her still-brewing anger, Luka was overcome by an almost primal sense of urgency now, all too eager to at last tell Lily who the Don's true killers were. It almost seemed too good to be true: after suddenly hitting a dead end in their investigations, the answer to all their questions had simply fallen into their laps. It was a miracle Luka wanted nothing more than to share, to use to finally cast away the clouds of confusion her entire Family had been entangled in. But even more satisfying for Luka to know was that she had succeeded in her duties, that she had carried out what her _capafamiglia_ and her Family had needed of her. It was always so fulfilling to know that she had done her part, that because of her there would be results.

She was so caught up in her web of anger and satisfaction that she almost didn't haer the sound of footsteps that began to echo from behind her. The noise wasn't particularly strange in of itself – it wasn't very late yet, and there were bound to be other people out walking the streets. But Luka noticed that though the footsteps managed to keep up with her own pace, they still maintained a good distance away from her, such that their sounds were barely audible even in the quiet of the early evening. It was clear she was being followed, and it worried her that she didn't know why.

Resting a hand on the hilt of her rapier, Luka whirled around to face the pursuer. There she saw a figure wrapped in a gray cloak, the garment's drawn hood casting the face underneath in darkness.

"Why are you following me?" Luka asked, her arm tensing up as she prepared to draw her blade. "Answer me, now."

"There's no need for such hostility." The shadow's voice was soft and distinctly female, the words she spoke delivered in a near monotone. "I assure you, my intentions are peaceful."

"Who are you?" Luka demanded, her grip still tight.

"A friend. One bearing a gift." The figure took a step forward and pulled a bundle of papers out from under her cloak. "I'm here to tell you that you've been deceived, Signora Megurine, and that you're still being kept in the dark. But I can bring to you the light you so rightly deserve."

"What are you talking about? How do you know who I am?"

The shadow extended her arm, offering the papers to the other woman. "You'll find all your questions answered in here. Even the ones you never thought to ask."

Luka hesitated a moment, then finally relaxed her grip on her sword. Slowly, she took a few steps towards the cloaked woman and snatched the bundle of yellowed papers out of her hand.

"What you see will surprise you, even shock you," the shadow said, "but do not think for a moment that anything there has been falsely crafted. You can see for yourself why that would be impossible."

Luka glanced down at the papers in her hand and suddenly lost all cognition. Staring back up at her, on the very first page, was the personal stamp of Don Marciano. Her eyes filled with uncomprehending terror: the cloaked woman was right. Luka had seen the emblem more than enough times to tell a forgery from the genuine seal, and she knew that there was no mistake. These papers had to have been written by the Don himself.

"How did you get these?" Luka growled, reaching back for her sword. "Who are you working for?"

"That doesn't concern you. Or rather, it doesn't anymore."

"I've had enough of your riddles," she said through clenched teeth. "Tell me the _truth_."

"I already have," the shadow replied. "Everything's in those papers, Signora Megurine. In them you'll find more truth than you ever thought was possible. If you still don't believe me, look more closely at that first page."

After a moment, Luka finally relaxed her grip on her blade. Though she didn't know the cloaked woman's intentions, her words were igniting in her a fierce curiosity, and, from what Luka could tell, everything she'd said thus far had been truthful.

She looked back down at the top page of the documents in her hand. A bank record, she realized, one showing an enormous influx into the Marciano accounts. But what made Luka's blood freeze over was the second name she noticed on the page, the source from which all the cash had apparently flowed.

_Megurine_.

The very print on the page spat fire in her face, burning her senses with an acidic furor. Every penny of this transaction had been taken from her family's account. It was far too large to have been a gift, to have been something Luka's parents had willingly given over to the Don. It was as if he'd broken into the family fortunes and carried them off with nothing more than a stroke of his pen.

"Why are you showing me – "

As Luka looked back up, she found the street was empty once again. She dashed to the nearby alleyways, desperate to find the shadow, but she found them all just as lifeless. She almost swore. Whoever that cloaked woman was, she could make a quick getaway.

Her heart still pounding with dread, Luka turned her attention back to the papers. None of it made any sense. In theory, as Luka's legal guardian, the Don had access to the Megurines' wealth, but her parents' wills had clearly reserved the family fortunes for _her_ usage. The Don would never have stooped so low as to take advantage of his position like this, to have robbed an orphaned heiress.

But as Luka flipped through the documents, she found the same kinds of transactions recorded again and again, the Marciano account gradually becoming fattened by her family's fortunes. And on every page, the Marciano stamp and the Don's personal signature were there to officiate the transaction. Luka couldn't deny it anymore. Her old _capofamiglia_ had stolen from her, and he had stolen from her parents.

She almost didn't want to go on. She wanted to throw the papers away, to descend no further down this horrible pit of biting, impossible reality, but the burning thirst of her curiosity couldn't be contained. Slowly, she turned over the next page, and to her surprise discovered a full page of prose in place of a record or spreadsheet. The handwriting was steady and fluid, easily recognizable as the Don's. A diary, she realized, dated not too long before the transactions had begun. Here would be justification, Luka was certain. Here would be the validation behind such apparent greed and betrayal.

_September 8, 1863_

_I am growing more and more convinced that the Megurines are uninterested in cooperation. How two-faced they are! They wish me to continue my business in the city, yet when I am most in need of their assistance they refuse to lend me a cent. I tied them into an elite which for them had disappeared alongside the dispersal of their kin, and now they repay me with silence? They act as if the traditional ways are sufficient, as if I should be able to assert control with the pitiful loans they have already granted me. Without wealth __I cannot hire soldiers_, without a force to justify me I cannot profit, and without profit I cannot sustain order. Do they simply not understand this rule? Have they suddenly become infected with avarice? Or perhaps it is not the act of contribution to which they object, but that which they believe they are contributing to. Perhaps the memories of the savageries that the campagnie _have committed against innocents and criminals alike is still too fresh in their minds. Could they honestly believe that I would do the same? Surely they could not be so foolish. I am not deserving of a single penny in my coffers if I do not have the Megurines' trust. I must not let these doubtful thoughts get the better of me. I will wait. Patience has rewarded me in the past, and so shall it now. I cannot believe that only now, after all the success I have enjoyed without their patronage, they will see fit to abandon me. They are far too honorable to abandon a friend in his time of need._

The page ended, and with greater trepidation, Luka turned to the next paper.

_September 18, 1863_

_My efforts are failing. The Megurines still do not place much faith in my plans, it would seem. Signor Megurine says the monopoly cannot hope to stand in this economic climate, and his wife appears to agree. I wish I could prove them wrong, but my profits are deteriorating, and competitors are evading my dominion entirely. They apparently do not need my loans, and have found ways to process grains without even my knowing. I cannot deny that my grip is weakening. But if I only had more funds, I am certain that I could turn it all around, that I could become dominant again. There would be no room for competitors if I simply had more means of taking them over or, better still, blocking outright their entrance into this business. I could do any of it if only I had more resources and manpower available to me, but such options do not come without a fee. The Megurines seem to think me capable of raising an army out of thin air. Why do they not give me a single opportunity to prove myself? I simply need to drive out the competition, and then my profits will surely rise again, but success will not come quickly if I operate with business alone. My greatest obstacle is that I do not have the funds necessary to run protection rackets for all my competitors, and such means would no doubt call undue attention to myself. Integrating them all would be far more effective, if I could simply buy up the property entirely, but because of the cost of this option my so-called allies refuse to even consider it. Do they not understand the investments that are necessary in business? I wish I knew some other way to persuade them, but it seems their eyes are sewn shut. If they are truly interested in recreating order in our homeland, they ought to open themselves up to the less-explored options I so humbly present._

_November 23, 1863_

_I can bear it no longer. They are simply sitting on a mountain of wealth they have done nothing to secure while I grow poorer even as I struggle to maintain dominance. How tiresome their excuses are! Do they truly not believe their investment would be a wise one? I come to a single difficulty and they are ready to abandon me entirely. For years I have profited, for years I have built up a circle of the most powerful corporate allies, and now the Megurines refuse to show faith in me even after I shared with them the riches that I reaped. Signora Megurine even went so far as to insult my methods. A disgrace, she said, to use intimidation to find success. Yes, "intimidation," she called it! As if to say that it is immoral to put my competitors in their proper place! How else does she expect me to fund any sort of protection for this city and its peoples? Surely she does not expect the state to become competent enough to actually discourage crime. When have the police ever dispelled a mob or dissuaded a criminal from his life of havoc? They are so readily subdued by the promise of wealth or the fear of harm, with one halting them as easily as the other. The Megurines simply refuse to understand that only fear will keep the lice in check. If they are truly this obstinate, this non-compliant, I fear that I will have no choice but to pursue alternate means of winning what I need._

_December 14, 1863_

_It is done. I have spoken to my _cavalieri_ only a few moments ago, and they have confirmed it has been completed. They assure me the men we sent to the manor performed perfectly, and that Signor and Signora Megurine are both disposed of. There was some looting, I'm also told, so I am confident the event will appear to all outside observers as yet another unfortunate incident to befall the unprotected in this city. I suppose later on I should get rid of the two hired ones as well. It doesn't seem very likely that they would talk about their involvement, but it isn't as if anyone will notice their disappearance, I'm sure. It shouldn't be very difficult to find a few _sicari_ who will be up for the job. The greater issue now is the legal battle. I do not think it will be much of a challenge to adopt the girl, of course. She is now without any immediate family in the entire city, and I'm the best suited of all the Megurines' contacts to rear her up by almost any standard. I cannot believe any official could think that she would not be well provided for under my care. The process itself, however, could prove to be slow, but gold has always proved a potent lubricant for the bureaucratic gears in the past. I have little reason to believe such won't be the case now, and time truly is of the essence. With every day that goes by, my competitors grow stronger, and if I do not have access to the proper resources soon they may prove difficult to eliminate. The reestablishment of the monopoly will never truly be an impossibility, but if I do not act quickly it may prove to be more costly a venture than necessary. _

_In some ways, I regret that things had to come to this. The Megurines were such valuable allies for so long, and it pains me to think that they could not see the logic of continuing to support me. But if they were truly this unprepared for an attack by two lowlifes hired off the street, then I can feel little sympathy for them. Still, I will not hold any of that against their daughter. I will see to it that she is raised properly, and that my family will be her own. She is still a child, after all, and she must be given correct instruction and the correct environment. Although, now that I pause to consider the situation, it seems to me that she could very well become a valuable resource in and of herself. Perhaps it is absurd to imagine the capabilities of one while she is still a child, but certainly integration has its benefits, even when they cannot be expected to arrive for some years. I will ensure that Lily will be a worthy successor, yes, but there surely can be no harm in bringing up the Megurine girl as well. Perhaps she will prove to be more than the key to her family's riches in the end. _Cavalieri_ should always be those closest to the throne, after all. Yes. Surely it is possible to make her loyal, and that alone could make her valuable. It is such a precious quality these days..._

Luka turned the page over, her hands quivering, but found she'd come to the end of the papers. None of this could be true, she wanted to tell herself. The Don was a better person than this. He wouldn't have ever done anything against an innocent family, let alone one with whom he was so well acquainted.

But every reassurance she gave herself was utterly hollow. None of these papers could have been forged, she already knew. In Luka's hands was a dark, glutenous abyss of truth that had swallowed her whole.

Don Fausto Marciano had killed her parents. She was a part of his Family only because he had burned her home to the ground.

She tightened her grip on the papers, her fingernails almost tearing through them. Suddenly, she couldn't bear to be in these streets, to be in the open sight of the dark buildings. She brought her hand up to the golden sun dangling from her neck and clutched it. Though the rest of the world had crumbled away, she could still see a single point to latch onto, a single person to make the sudden vacuum bearable. The Family could reclaim its honor later. For once, Luka decided, she would put herself first.

With a deep breath, Luka dashed back off the way she came, trying to keep Miku's smile in her mind.

* * *

The study door slowly creaked open, and Miku looked up in surprise from her book at the pink-haired woman who entered.

"Why are you back so early?" she asked. "Did everything go well?"

Luka wordlessly stepped into the room, her countenance a rainy sky.

"It was all a lie, Miku," she said softly. "From the very beginning, they had me blinded."

Miku set her book aside and stood up. "Luka, what are you talking about? What's wrong?"

"He murdered them." The pink-haired woman's voice became choked. "Don Marciano had my family killed."

Miku's eyes widened. "What? But, you said – "

"He made it look like an accident," Luka said. "He hired two thugs off the street to do the job, but he could just as well have slit their throats himself." She shook her head. "And it was all to steal from their fortunes. That's the only reason he left me alive. When he brought me into his family, he was able to take from my parents' wealth without anyone noticing. Here." She offered Miku the stack of papers. "See for yourself."

Hesitantly, the teal-haired girl took the pages and began to look over them, a look of horror dawning over her face.

"How did you get these?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does, Luka! What if they're forged? What if they're just part of Casa Kagamine's – "

"They're real," Luka interrupted. "I know how the Don wrote, how he marked what he wrote. Nothing in those papers is forged."

Miku was silent, her eyes grown downcast.

"I had always thought of the Don as the most honorable man in the world," Luka said quietly. "He always seemed to have a vision for what this city could become, how it could become a safer, more just place for all of us. And he never erred from that goal. He was so devoted to that vision in everything he did, and to me that was the most noble thing that anyone was capable of. But I don't think that the man I looked up to ever really existed. I wanted to find a hero in him, so I saw nothing but nobility and honor."

She swallowed. "I was the one who found them when they died that day. There was a trail of upended furniture that led up to their study, and the door was left half-open. They were both slumped over in armchairs, there was still blood dripping out of them onto the floor... I couldn't even comprehend what I was seeing, I didn't think any of it could be real. When the servants finally came, I hadn't even moved from the doorway. Nothing inside me seemed to work anymore. It wasn't until the bodies were taken away that I finally started crying."

She took a long breath of silence. "The Don didn't wait long to take me in. I wasn't sure of what to think of him at first. I'd seen him a few times before, when he met with my parents for business, but he never seemed like someone who I could trust. But then, he told me the efforts that his business funded, how he caught people like the ones who had killed mother and father. That's when I started to admire him, when he became some sort of saint to me. He never paid much attention to me outside the lessons he would give, but I suppose he didn't have to. What he did – what I _thought_ he did – was always enough to make me loyal to him. I wanted a family back in my life, and he let me create one. And I never questioned that illusion because I couldn't bear for it to be shattered." Luka's fingers dug deep into her palms. "But now it _has_ been broken. I was such a fool for letting the truth sneak up on me like this, for letting it hide behind that wall he built up around me. I was loyal to the man who betrayed my family, all for the sake of being a part of his. In a way, I suppose that means I've betrayed them, too."

"You didn't know," Miku said. "You can't blame yourself, Luka, you couldn't have known."

"But I do now."

Miku was quiet a moment. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "Will you stay with them?"

"...I don't know," Luka admitted. "I think before I can decide anything, I need to know what my _capa_ knew. She's the Don's daughter, but that doesn't have to mean she's guilty, too. But perhaps serving anyone with the name 'Marciano' is just as traitorous as serving the Don." She gently took the papers back from Miku. "I'll see that your captors get what they deserve, Miku, and I'll make sure that you're kept safe. I won't put any of this before you. I promise."

Luka turned and left out the door, Miku watching as she went. She didn't have the stomach to return to her book.

* * *

A/N: MAJOR apologies for the lateness of this chapter! I really didn't want for it to be this delayed, but finals caught up with me and sucked out far more of my free time than I'd anticipated (as they are so in the habit of doing). Anyway, thank you all again for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I'll do my best to get the next update out in a more timely manner.


	14. Chapter 14

Luka shoved open the enormous doors at the front of the Marciano manor, not bothering to even glance at the guards nearby, and promptly strode inside. Her every movement was determined and swift, her muscles tense as iron, but she knew that the moment she appeared before her _capa_ all her indignation would have to disappear. For Miku's sake, the answers she was bringing were far more important than the ones she so desperately wanted to know; for now, she had to keep her newfound wrath towards the name of Marciano buried away. After all, Luka needed her Family's trust now more than ever.

The foyer Luka walked into was quiet and empty, as was normal this time of evening, but she happened to notice a servant nearby.

"Where's the Donna?" she called to him.

The man froze as he met Luka's pointed gaze. "Ah!" he cried. "Signora Megurine! Why, Donna Marciano is just upstairs, in her study, but–"

"I see. Thank you." Luka turned and immediately began marching towards the stairway.

"Wait!" the servant shouted. "She's in a meeting now, and it seemed–"

"I doubt it's anything I can't see," Luka said gruffly, her pace unchanged.

She continued up the stairs, leaving the servant fidgeting nervously in the entryway, and quickly reached the study. She halted in front of the door, taking a long moment to compose herself. It was surprisingly easy to bury away her burning grudge, if only for now; if it was for Miku, Luka knew she could endure any shame, any injustice.

Now as tranquil as she could make herself, Luka opened the door. Inside she found Lily and Kaito, who were attentively listening to a woman in an elegant black gown, her short hair a golden blonde. On the table next to her rested a small leather bag.

"Why, Luka," Lily said, turning in surprise as the pink-haired woman entered. "I wasn't expecting you to be around this time of day. Although, it's just as well you're here now."

"And why would that be?" Luka asked.

"It would seem we've found a new ally in this mess of ours," Lily replied. "Allow me to introduce Donna Rin Kagamine, _capafamiglia_ of Casa Kagamine."

The blonde woman smiled at Luka, genuinely enough to throw her off track for a moment. But in the Donna's eyes, in the momentary hesitation of her grin, Luka swore she could sense a trace of fear, as if she was surprised at the pink-haired woman's presence.

"A pleasure to meet you, Signora," Rin said as she gave a friendly bob of her head. "I take it you are a _cavaliere_?"

"That I am," Luka answered, trying to keep her shock hidden away. Everything about this picture was utterly wrong, but she couldn't let the other _capa_ know she realized that. The woman had to be up to something to have actually come here, to the very Family she had attacked, and it filled Luka with anxiety that she didn't know what exactly she was planning.

"In that case, it should be fine for me to continue, yes?" Rin asked.

"Certainly," Lily said, "but first, perhaps you could fill Signora Megurine in on what you have told us so far?"

"But of course. I've only just arrived, Signora," she said to Luka, "so this won't take long. I was just now telling these two that my Family and I have discovered the true murderer of your former _capofamiglia_."

Luka's eyes widened. "What?"

"Surprising, I'm sure, to hear it from another Family," Rin continued, "but I assure you, as I assured your colleagues, that I'm speaking the truth. Let me explain." She turned back to the entirety of her audience. "You see, my Family has – or, given her extended absence from us, _had_ – a _sicario_ who we unfortunately hadn't been keeping as close a watch on as we should have, and we've recently run into some rather... unsettling evidence concerning her. Specifically, evidence that links her to directly to Don Marciano's death."

"You mean to say one of your own _familiare_ performed the crime?" Lily asked.

"I'm afraid so," Rin solemnly replied. "But I assure you, she was acting purely on her own will. Casa Kagamine had no part in this horrible deed – we simply have no reason to stoop so low as to murder a fellow _familiare_, let alone a _capofamiglia_."

"But why on earth would someone want to murder a _capo_ on her own?" Luka asked. She didn't want to overplay her hand, but already this woman's story wasn't adding up; the others had to see as soon as possible that she couldn't be trusted.

"I realize this is difficult to accept," Rin said, "but this particular _sicario_ very much had such desires brewing within her, and I can't forgive myself for not noticing them sooner. She was generally obedient and respectful, yes, but she tended to have her... shall we say, rebellious streaks. She would, on occasion, express to me incredible dissatisfaction at the fact that she was only ever assigned criminals as targets, as she found them, in her words, 'dull.' She would say that she wanted to hunt down someone who was more difficult, more prominent, and more important, and it shames me to know that now she has finally done just that."

"Are you saying this assassin hunted the Don out of _sport_?" Kaito asked, his tone razor-sharp.

"In her mind, I suppose it was something like that," Rin said. "She couldn't have possibly been seeking any personal gain from this, considering how difficult it would have been for her to obtain. After all, it's ridiculous to expect even an entire Family to profit from the death of Casa Marciano's _capofamiglia_."

"Is that so?" Lily asked. "How strange. Such a thought never occurred to us all these days of investigation."

The other blonde smiled. "Well, it's only logical, Donna Marciano. Anyone smart enough to plan an assassination so elaborate must also realize that, even destabilized, Casa Marciano is a fearsome opponent. Even if their guilt was well-hidden, surely no Family would be foolish enough to risk invoking your wrath."

"And yet for quite some time we were under the impression that one had done so."

"Please, I don't mean to offend you," Rin said, suddenly concerned. "I understand why you would have thought that way, of course. This situation is most peculiar, and to be perfectly honest I continued to question it myself. But it's the truth, and I cannot urge you strongly enough to act upon it. All I'm trying to say is that a single saboteur makes more sense, in the bigger picture. There's a clearer motivation with only one person involved, and it makes hiding one's trail much easier."

"So I assume you intend to show me this evidence you say you've found?" Lily asked. "Or do you perhaps expect us to believe you purely out of good will?"

Rin smiled again. "I most certainly would not have come to you without my proof, Donna Marciano." She reached into her bag and withdrew a sheet of paper and a small glass vial, both of which she handed to Lily. "We found both of these in the assassin's room," she explained. "They were quite well hidden, and I'm sure you'll see why."

Lily skimmed over the paper, her expression morphing into a blend of shock and confusion. "It's a schedule of our maids' duties..." she said softly.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you how she could have gotten hold of that," Rin said, "but the moment we discovered it, we realized something was horribly wrong. You see, we'd heard rumors about how exactly the Don had been killed, and it occurred to me that, in one way or another, the maids were said to have been involved."

"The assassin disguised herself as one of them," Kaito said. "She threatened one at knifepoint to get her uniform, then slipped poison into the Don's coffee. It was clearly a well-planned attack."

"Which would necessitate knowing the maids' schedule," Rin concluded for him. "And that's where that vial comes in. Do you see the bit of residue left at the bottom?"

"Yes," Lily said. "There's a bit of white powder still there."

Rin nodded in agreement. "After finding that schedule, we feared the worst about what exactly that residue was, so we contacted a poison expert. The rumors say your Don had been poisoned, of course, and we thought perhaps we had stumbled upon the murder weapon itself. And from what our expert told us, we have little reason to think we were wrong."

"He was killed with white arsenic," the other blonde said as she continued to scrutinize the vial. "And from the looks of this, I'd say this is the same stuff. It has the right consistency and color, not to mention it's almost entirely odorless."

"Which led us to conclude that she'd done it," Rin said. "There's the means, and I've already told you about motive."

"So why did you decide to search her room in the first place?" Lily asked, finally looking up from the vial. "Is that simply a routine in your Family?"

Rin chuckled. "We aren't nearly that distrustful of our _familiari_, no. What made this assassin's case an exception was that, as I've said, she'd left us for a little over a day now, and we decided to look for clues as to where she might have gone. Given her unusual behavior, I'm sure you can understand why we'd have had reason to be concerned."

"I see," Lily said. "Well, Donna Kagamine, as convincing as your reasoning may be, there remains one difficulty with convicting this rogue _sicario_ of yours as the villain behind all this." She set the vial and paper aside. "Every bit of evidence you've presented to me is, for my purposes, completely unreliable. They only incriminate this particular _familiare_ because of where they were found, and I simply have no proof that you actually discovered them there. They imply conspiracy, yes, but by themselves they do not tell who is responsible."

Rin frowned. "Surely, you don't think I'm trying to deceive you?"

"It simply isn't enough to assign someone guilt, is all," Lily replied. "I must be absolutely certain that this _sicario_ is the one completely behind the murder. Otherwise, I risk not only killing an innocent, but letting the real perpetrator – or perpetra_tors_, as the case might very well be – go free. To be frank, I can't take that chance on your word alone."

Rin sighed. "I was afraid you might say that. I understand your intentions completely, of course, but what I'm saying really is the truth."

"And I'm afraid only hard evidence will convince me of that. This is an incredibly grave accusation you're making, Donna Kagamine. I want to be completely confident that all your facts are correct."

The blonde paused a few seconds, apparently deep in thought. "You said the assassin changed into a maid's uniform, correct?" she finally asked. "Were you perhaps able to recover the uniform she used?"

"We were," Kaito replied.

"So you still have it with you, then? And you haven't had it cleaned or otherwise tampered with?"

"It's vital evidence," Lily said. "We haven't altered it in the slightest from the moment we discovered it."

"Then, could you get it out, please?" Rin asked, a smile again growing on her lips. "I believe there you'll find the final proof of my words."

Lily and Kaito shared a momentary look of puzzlement, until the blonde finally nodded a confirmation to the young man. He walked over to the nearby wardrobe and brought back the uniform in question, its fabric still wrinkled and worn.

"So what exactly should we be looking for on this?" Lily asked.

"Well, the assassin must have been wearing that for a good while," Rin explained. "Look more closely: she should have left a small trace of her having been there. Perhaps it would help if I mentioned that she has long, teal hair?"

Luka's eyes suddenly grew wider. _No. She couldn't mean_...

Kaito turned his attention towards the uniform, intently scanning over it. Finally, he picked a single thread of off-color hair from the collar, nearly invisible even under his scrutiny. His brow furrowed in near disbelief as he examined it.

"It's... teal," he said.

"And I assume that couldn't have been from the maid who originally wore that uniform, yes?" Rin asked.

"No," Lily answered. "No, it couldn't have been."

"So you see I must be telling the truth. Of course, if you're still not convinced, I can let you go over the physical descriptions of all our _familiari_. You'll see that only this particular _sicario_ could have fit into that uniform and left that hair behind."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You'd actually be willing to share that with us?"

"Of course," Rin replied. "Consider it an act of good will. I wish to be as open with you as possible in this matter, Donna Marciano."

The other blonde smiled slightly. "Well, thank you, but that can happen later. For now, I just want to know who exactly this _sicario_ of yours is."

"Certainly. I have with me a picture of her, though I can also provide a more detailed verbal description, or whatever other information you think will help in tracking her down." Rin reached back into her bag and produced another sheet of paper. "Her name," she said as she handed the page over to Lily, "is Miku Hatsune."

Luka's felt herself take in a sharp breath of air, her prior control over her expression eradicated. If only to seal any doubt she had left, she leaned over Lily's shoulder to take a look at the paper. Her blood ran cold as ice: a sketch of Miku, _her _Miku, was blankly staring back up at her.

"All right," Lily said. "Why don't you go over any further details about her with Kaito? He's the one who'll be leading the actual search."

"Very well," Rin said. "Would the next room be fine then, Signor?"

"Absolutely," Kaito said in a near growl. "I want to know everything I can to find this scum."

Donna Kagamine gave another smile. "After you, then," she said, and Kaito led her out of the room.

The door gave a small click as it swung shut, and Luka immediately turned towards the remaining Donna.

"Lily," she said, desperation surging its way forth in her words, "she's lying."

The blonde looked confused. "What makes you say that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Luka said, more loudly than she would've liked. She took a deep breath, using the spare moment to think: she wasn't sure how much she could reveal just yet. "There's something wrong with all of this, I know it; her whole story rang of lunacy. Why would anyone ever kill a _capofamiglia_ on their own?"

"It's strange, certainly, but not impossible," Lily replied. "It isn't as if there aren't Families out there who have their less stable members. This Signorina Hatsune simply appears to be one for Casa Kagamine."

Luka felt her nails dig deep into her palms, her hands quivering against her will. Countless impulses screamed at her to avenge the insult, but she restrained herself.

"But she didn't _prove_ anything," she argued, as coolly as possible. "For all we know, none of her evidence could be real."

Lily frowned in bemusement. "I think she showed that it was quite genuine, Luka. The schedule was correct, and I can tell the vial had actual poison. Disregarding even that, there's simply no possible way that Casa Kagamine could have planted false evidence on that uniform. Don't you think you're being overly suspicious?"

"I'm simply exploring all the possibilities. You certainly didn't trust that woman at first."

"That was until she proved she could back up her claims."

"But even if all that's real, there's nothing to prove she actually found the evidence where she said she did."

"What are you saying?" Lily asked, bewildered. "Someone had to have had that schedule, Luka, and someone had to have used that vial. If not this assassin, then who?"

"Perhaps Donna Kagamine has something she's hiding from us."

Lily stared in disbelief. "Are you saying you think Casa Kagamine's actually behind the murder?"

"They're far more logical a suspect than a supposedly bloodthirsty _sicario_," Luka said. "Might I add she didn't have any evidence for this _familiare_'s supposedly 'rebellious' behavior? There's no reason to believe this 'motive' we've been given is valid."

"Just as there's no reason to believe Casa Kagamine had a grounds for killing my father."

"They could have just been interested in moving into our territory, Lily. That was reason enough for us to suspect Casa Rinaldi."

"But everything Donna Kagamine did here today disproves that," Lily said. "If she truly were behind my father's death, she never would have been this open with us. What murderer would turn over evidence of her guilt to her pursuers? What _capafamiglia_ would betray one of her followers?"

"Don't you see it?" Luka asked, her desperation again taking hold. "She's just using a scapegoat to try to save her own skin!"

"But where is your _proof_, Luka? Do you even have some kind of _hunch_ for what you're saying?"

"There's no way Miku could have killed the Don!"

The room went silent, and Lily's stare slowly grew a sharp edge of accusation. "'Miku?'" she repeated. The name left her mouth like ink billowing out in water, a growing black cloud of pollution that poisoned the air. "You seem strangely... invested in this assassin, Luka. You've been defending her so vehemently, and now you've even used her first name."

"I don't see what you find suspicious in it," Luka said, glancing away. "This is simply the most logical of conclusions."

"Really?" Lily asked. "I'd say this is the least rational I've ever seen you. It's as if you're personally offended by these accusations."

"All that's offending me are the lies that woman spouted so easily."

"Lies you've still done nothing to disprove."

"Miku couldn't have done it!" Luka cried. "And I know that because..." She hesitated, gathering every bit of her courage to say what had to come next. "...I know that because I love her."

Lily's eyes widened. "What are you saying?" she said. "That's utterly impossible, Luka. How could you have even _met_ her? You're... you're being ridiculous. You've been seeing that girl you've been telling me about, how could you possibly be in love with that _assassin_?"

"Do you really not see?"

"Of course I don't! It's simply not possible, you're not thinking straight!"

The pink-haired woman looked downwards. "I told you her name before," she said quietly. "The name of that girl. Do you remember it?"

"Yes, you said it was..." Lily's expression froze in realization. "...Miku." Her voice began to rise in a near panic. "No. It can't be, you don't mean–"

"I do," Luka said. "It's her."

Silence stretched on, heavy as lead, while the Donna's disbelieving stare tore through Luka's skull.

"And, you never knew?" Lily finally asked. "All this time you've been seeing her... you only now realized this girl is a _familiare_?"

"I found out last night," Luka said, not looking up. "Her Family had sent her to kill me, but she wouldn't do it. She admitted everything to me, Lily. She's not our enemy."

"Did she say why they wanted you dead?"

"It was part of their plan," Luka explained. "She was told to frame the murder on Casa Rinaldi, to finally convince us that they were the ones behind the Don's death. Casa Kagamine has been planting evidence against them this entire time."

"And what makes you believe her?"

"I _trust_ her. Besides, do you really think something this big could have been set up by one person?"

Lily hesitated. "You really trust her that much? Do you _truly_ believe Casa Kagamine's actually behind all this?"

"It's the only way that makes sense!" Luka cried. "_Think_ about it. They're a young Family, and they're probably out to secure a better place for themselves in the city. They must have thought they could achieve that by killing the Don, and then tried to implicate Casa Rinaldi to give us a fake target. Now that we know Rinaldi's innocent they're afraid we'll come after them, so they just gave us another false lead."

"But you don't have any _proof_ of that, do you?"

"Where proof is absent, logic prevails. Do you really think it would have been possible for one _sicario_ to have convinced that poison dealer to lie to us, or to make Kamui think it was safe to betray us? Only a Family could have held that much sway over them!"

"Perhaps Signorina Hatsune is just especially persuasive. For all we know, she could have fabricated everything she's told you."

"How could she be smart enough to do that but not be smart enough to dispose of the evidence of her crime? I have no absolutely no reason to distrust her."

"You're only saying that because of what you feel towards her."

"My trust of her is where those feelings came from."

Lily let out a sigh. "All right, fine," she conceded. "I'll admit, that makes sense."

"...Really?" Luka asked, hope daring to edge into her voice. "Then, you'll pursue Casa Kagamine instead?"

"You've made a good case, Luka," the blonde said. "Really, your explanation is far more reasonable than the one Donna Kagamine gave. But that doesn't mean Signorina Hatsune is innocent."

The hope died just as easily as it had come. "What?"

"It makes perfect sense that Casa Kagamine would send out a scapegoat, certainly, if they realized we no longer have any reason to suspect the Family they'd tried to frame. But they didn't hand an innocent over to us, Luka. The just gave us the assassin who carried out their plans."

"Lily, please, she couldn't have–"

"Did she ever tell you who actually killed him?" Lily interrupted. "If she knew so much about her Family's plans, surely she would know who my father's assassin was."

"...She said they never told her that," Luka softly answered.

Lily almost smirked. "A clever response, isn't it? If she'd done it, no one would have had to tell her that, would they?"

"You don't understand!" Luka shouted. "She didn't _want_ to work for them! They were using her the whole time, _exploiting_ her! She couldn't have been behind a hit this important!"

"Then explain _this,_" Lily said as she shoved the maid uniform in Luka's face. "Explain why everything we've just learned points straight to her. Explain why she could tell you everything you wanted to know about this murder except who the murderer was."

Luka's throat was a silent desert. She looked anywhere but at Lily's burning gaze.

"I thought so," the Donna said. She set the uniform back down, giving a soft sigh. "She had to have done it, Luka. It's useful that she told us who else was behind it, and we _will_ see that Casa Kagamine is punished, but that doesn't mean we can let the assassin herself escape. We're all responsible for making sure she sees justice. You know that."

"She doesn't deserve to be treated like some kind of criminal," Luka murmured.

"And why is that?" Lily demanded. "Because of what you _feel_ towards her?"

"She's not just some–"

"I don't care _what_ you think she is," Lily snapped. "All I need to know is that she killed my father. That's more than enough reason for her to die, Luka, for me and for you."

Luka's mouth twisted into a snarl. "You're one to speak of murdered family, Lily."

The blonde's glower momentarily faltered. "What are you talking about?"

"I know what he did, Lily," Luka said. Her restraint had finally broken, and her eyes were ablaze with a quiet rage. "I know what the Don did to my parents."

The fury in Lily's stare suddenly dissipated. "I... I don't know what you mean."

"Enough with your lies, Lily. I know why I'm a part of this Family, the _real_ reason: I know he killed them."

"Luka, please, you don't know what you're saying–"

"Don't you dare try to deny it!" Luka shouted. She pulled out the papers from inside her jacket and thrust them at the other woman. "Here. I have even have proof this time."

The Donna's eyes widened. "Those... Those are..."

"Exactly what you didn't want me to see. Am I right?"

Lily slowly took the papers, her lips almost trembling as she read over them. "How did you get these?"

"I think you have far more explaining to do than I."

"But don't you see, Luka?" Lily cried. "These are the papers Kamui took! You getting them is just a part of Casa Kagamine's plan! They want to drive you against your Family!"

"Does that change what's written there?" Luka demanded. "I know those papers aren't forged, Lily. Everything there is true. Isn't it?"

The blonde hesitated. "Yes," she finally admitted. "Yes, it's all true. I wish you didn't have to find out like this, but... well, I guess we can't change what's happened, can we?"

Luka's muscles tensed. "So you knew."

"I only found out a few years ago, Luka," Lily said. "Before then, I had no idea it had ever happened, I swear." She let out a long breath, looking downward. "I'm not sure my father ever really wanted me to know about it, to tell the truth. One day he had asked me to organize some of his old documents, and I happened to find those very pages. If it wasn't for that, maybe I never would have known." She looked back up at the other woman, her voice becoming more and more distraught. "When I found out, I was horrified. I had always believed just what you believed, Luka, I thought it had been just another break-in. The truth practically crippled me: my father killed my best friend's only family, and knowing that... knowing that was more than I could bear.

"So I confronted him about it. I told him just how disgusted with him I was, how ashamed I was to be his daughter. He was angry with me, of course, but he still told me his side of the story. Those papers only tell so much, Luka. You have no idea just how desperate he was back then, you don't know just how badly he needed that money. If he didn't do what he did, this Family wouldn't be standing today. Can you even imagine this city without us? Can you even begin to consider the crime, the chaos? I wish it could have been some other way, I truly do, but what my father did was for a greater good."

"Is that really what you tell yourself?" Luka asked, almost growling. "Is that what keeps your guilt at bay?"

"You make it sound like a delusion," Lily said. "It's the truth, Luka, the cold, hard truth. I don't like it any more than you do, but it's the only reason this Family is still here."

"This wasn't some kind of sacrifice. My parents were _murdered_."

"And because of that, the city is safer. I can't defend the act itself, Luka, but the results were still meaningful. Besides, now their murderer is dead. How can you still hold a grudge?"

"Maybe because I'm still being asked to serve in his name."

Lily's expression filled with a cold wrath. "You took an oath to serve this Family just as I did. Are these revelations really enough to make your vows meaningless?"

Luka didn't answer. The Donna sighed, her face becoming more tranquil.

"If you truly can't serve in my father's name, then serve in mine," she said. "Surely you trust me enough for that."

"Perhaps. But not enough to do what you're asking of me."

"You know we can't let that assassin live."

"She doesn't want to serve her Family anymore!" Luka protested. "Please, Lily, for my sake, let her go. She's innocent in all this."

"No one who harms Casa Marciano is ever innocent," Lily said. "Surely you know that."

A thousand more protests surged forth in Luka's mind, though she knew each one was utterly futile. For once, the truth was no longer on her side. She finally let what was left of her resistance fade away.

"I do," she softly answered.

"And you know what you'll become if you interfere with our efforts."

Luka swallowed, the hideous label blazing forth in her mind and finally forcing its way onto her lips. "A traitor. Yes, I know."

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Luka," Lily said. "But an enemy of the Family can never be anything but an enemy. If we forgive them, then everyone is without guilt."

"Of course. I understand."

"Good." She rested a hand on Luka's shoulder, looking deep into her eyes with a purposeful stare. "Please, don't make this any more difficult for me. For my sake, for the Family's sake, you have to put aside your feelings. I don't think I could live with myself if I had to be the one to hunt you down."

Luka's empty expression didn't change. "Would you really have to?"

"Traitors can never escape us, Luka. For the sake of our reputation, and the sake of our honor. You know that." She brought her hand back down. "Speaking of which, now that we have the name of our enemy, Signor Kamui doesn't really serve us any purpose anymore, does he?"

"No," Luka said. "I suppose he doesn't."

"Then you know what to do."

"Of course." She turned for the door. "I'll take care of it."

Lily finally smiled. "Glad to hear it. And don't bother with anything special – at this point, we just need him dead."

The _cavaliere_ gave a final word of understanding and left the room, leaving the Donna alone in the suddenly oppressive silence.

"Please, Luka," she said quietly, a sudden wetness rolling down her cheek. "For me. Please..."

* * *

The sole iron door of the Marciano manor creaked open, spilling light onto the shackled man on the other side of the cold, stone room. He blinked back the sudden illumination until the portal slammed back shut.

"Well, well, what have we here!" he said, smiling at the pink-haired woman as he watched her approach. His voice was hoarse and strained, as if every syllable he spoke was painful. "Back so soon, Luka? I should've known you hadn't had your fill of me."

"It's been days, Signor Kamui," Luka said. "I'd hardly call this 'soon.'"

She stepped in closer, and the wounds, burns, and bruises that covered the prisoner became visible. Some were old, some were still fresh and bleeding, but they appeared all over his skin, the marks an elaborate painting on the canvas of his flesh.

"Has it really been that long?" Gakupo let out a low, gasping chuckle. "Time certainly flies down here, I must say. Really, I've been having ever so much fun just standing here, counting the stones in the walls. I'm even lucky enough to have company from time to time – though, I'm sure you knew that already."

Luka turned her head away, the sight of the man's injuries finally proving too much for her. "Don't you even want to know why I'm here?"

"Oh, I already know why," the prisoner replied. "You're here to kill me, aren't you?"

"And how did you figure that out?" Luka asked. She wasn't shocked or even impressed by the answer. If anything, it was something of a relief to hear him say it instead of having to herself: any satisfaction in this act was dead and buried alongside her unswerving loyalties. Now it was just another cross for her to bear, a duty and nothing more.

"After everything they've already done to me, I'm pretty sure you all think there's nothing more you can do to make me talk," Gakupo answered. "And you're right. I'm not going to let you have that victory over me – you've already taken too much. Killing me is just your way of giving up, and that's enough to make this all worthwhile."

"I suppose you're partly right," Luka said. "The truth just doesn't seem to want to leave you, Signor Kamui - although it appears that we can't beat your arrogance out of you, either." She let out a long breath. "But that's not why the Donna wants you dead. I'm here because we have no further use for you."

The prisoner's eyebrows rose. "Oh, really? So I suppose you found your enemy on your own?"

"That we did," Luka said quietly. "Casa Kagamine. We've found all the evidence we need against them, even without your cooperation."

"Well, I hope you're pleased with your answer."

The pink-haired woman's expression was dark, but without a trace of fury. "There's no need for your ambiguity anymore, Signor Kamui. The facts are all in place, and the Family you sold us out to is about to face its retribution. You might as well confess now."

"And ruin everything I've worked up to?" The shackled man gave a long laugh, until he was cut off by a fit of wheezing coughs. "No, Luka, I'm not saying anything one way or the other. I didn't endure all this just to quit in the end."

Luka shook her head slightly, sighing. "Fine. It doesn't really matter, I suppose. I can't say I really expected anything more out of you."

Gakupo frowned. "How curious. You seem so sullen, Luka. What could possibly have you down at a time like this? You've got a _capo_ to avenge, perpetrators to pursue, and a traitor to execute. What more could you possibly ask for?"

"You make it sound as if I should be thankful."

"But normally, you would be. This is everything you asked for last time you were here, and now that you've gotten it, you're completely ungrateful. It's almost as if..." The shackled man's confused look morphed into an enormous grin. "Why, you saw the pages, didn't you? The ones from the Don's diary - am I right?"

"Yes, yes you are!" Luka snapped. "Don't consider yourself some sort of prodigy for figuring that out, Signor Kamui. I know those were the papers you stole."

"Then you must know I read them, too," Gakupo said. "Believe me, I know exactly why your loyalties are failing you now, Luka. Didn't I tell you they were keeping things from you? It's little wonder why, isn't it?"

"I know this is all just a part of your plan," Luka snarled. "You might as well enlighten me as to what else we might run into when we wipe your group of belligerents off the face of Italy." Though she was no longer angered by his crime, Luka wanted to show the arrogant traitor commitment and strength, not the hesitation and ambivalence in her that he was making all too apparent. _This is for Miku_, she again reminded herself; even if it was in the venomous name of Marciano, Casa Kagamine couldn't be left standing, and that meant she had to know everything the treacherous Family had planned.

The shackled man only laughed. "I know I'm dead either way, Luka. There's no reason at all for me to help you wage your little war." He leaned forward slightly, a smile still plastered across his lips. "But I must say, it surprises me you'd even bother asking that. I'd have thought by now you'd be ready to leave this band of cutthroats to their fate."

"I have my reasons to stay," Luka said.

"Really? And what would they be?"

"Reasons enough to serve even the Family that murdered my parents. That's all you'll ever know, Signor Kamui."

"'Murdered?' So you acknowledge the act for what it was?" The man's smile became almost approving. "Good, very good. It seems you're learning after all."

"There's simply no other word to use."

"It certainly isn't what the Don liked to call it. 'Re-appropriation' was his preferred term, I believe. It was all over the later diary pages. Or did you not get those?"

"What are you getting at?" Luka growled. "If you have something more to tell me, then say it."

"Oh, there isn't much more to tell, really," Gakupo chuckled. "I'd say by now, you know most everything you need to know. But now that you're not so shackled anymore, perhaps you can see your old experiences with new eyes."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"Meaning that you'll finally be able to know this house of murderers for what it really is." His smile slowly faded into a dark scowl. "These people you work for are no better than the criminals they get rid of, Luka. They are a leech upon the people of Italy, and they won't be satisfied until they've drained their host of all her blood. They must be destroyed, for the sake of both the dead and the living."

Luka hesitated, not even finding the will to open her mouth. She wanted to retort, to condemn the traitor's words as the extremism they were, but somehow, she couldn't form a single protest. It was as if she didn't want to stand her ground against him anymore, as is she no longer had any need to.

"You know, you and I share something, Luka," the prisoner continued. "In fact, it's something that links you and I with countless others: the Don killed both our families, our _real_ ones. Only, with mine, he didn't even have the courtesy to hide behind a couple of hired guns." His expression grew darker still. "They starved, Luka. That's how they went, one by one, they _starved_. I was the only one in the family who could find work, so they let me have most of the food. No matter how much I protested, they wouldn't take more, they just kept saying that I was their only hope now. I needed my strength, they said, so I could still have an income once the food prices finally went down. And so, one by one, my mother, my father, my brothers... they all died away, with less dignity than beaten dogs."

"And you blame Casa Marciano for that?"

"Of course I do. Do you know _why_ I was the only one who had work, why everyone else in my family was so mysteriously unemployed?" Gakupo broke into a joyless smirk. "We were farmers, Luka. _Wheat_ farmers. We didn't make much off what we did, but it was enough to feed us all. And then came the Don. He wanted us to sell our crops to only him, even though he offered us prices that were far below what we normally sold at. When we refused, he threatened us. And when we still wouldn't give in, do you know what he did?" His smile again faded. "He set fire to our fields. That was how he responded, Luka, he just burned away any competition he might have faced. We lost every bit of our crop that year, and because of that, we couldn't afford to pay for the next season's seed. He condemned us to death, all because we wouldn't help turn him an extra bit of profit. Tell me I'm not right to seek revenge."

"I've no interest in arguing you, Signor Kamui," Luka said. "I'm not sure I should have let you live even this long."

"Oh, I know you don't mean that," Gakupo replied. "You wanted to hear every word I've said. Admit it: you're just as driven against this Family as I am. We both know they need to pay for what they've done."

"Do you really think I'm foolish enough to work against them?"

"No matter what you think now, Casa Marciano _will_ reap the fruits of its sins, just like the rest of us. I'm certain of it." He leaned back against the wall, almost comfortably. "That's why I'm not afraid of you or the hereafter. I've played my part in this dance, and soon, you'll play yours."

"I have matters more important than aiding your delusions of revolution," Luka said. She had no need to tell him what, who.

The prisoner laughed again. "You really don't have any choice in that anymore, Luka. After what you've learned, you can only either work for this Family or against them: they'll leave you with no other option. After all, the only escape from a Family is death. _Familiari_ will always remain _familiari_, even to the ends of their lives."

Luka looked off. "Perhaps you're right," she murmured. "But perhaps there's more to my existence than _this_ life." She took a long breath and slowly drew her rapier. "I believe it's time we ended this, Signor Kamui."

The shackled man's eyes shone with a dreadful calm. "Then go ahead, Signora. Hasten yourselves to your ruin."

Wordlessly, Luka readied her blade. _No one who brings harm to Casa Marciano ever dies with_ _honor_, she remembered herself saying once. Now, the words felt lifeless and without meaning, yet they swarmed about in Luka's head like flies over carrion, haunting her.

With a single, swift motion, she drove the pointed steel through the prisoner's chest, tearing his flesh like paper.

* * *

Night had finally fallen as Luka hurried back home, the few gas lamps that littered the streets giving a bit of illumination in the tyrannous dark. The skies were cloudy enough to block out most of the stars, along with the shrinking moon.

She at last reached her home and immediately began to rush through its halls, opening every single door she could find in a desperate search for the only face in the world that could wash away her dread, her anxiety. If felt like time itself was breathing down her neck, and every empty room she revealed only made its presence heavier. Though she had no idea what would come afterward, right now she knew she _had_ to find Miku, to have her here, with her, if only to get rid of the nauseous feeling of ineptitude that her absence was bringing about. The girl had to be here, Luka knew, somewhere in the manor, but as she threw open more and more doors a pestilent tinge of doubt inside her grew and grew.

As she neared the end of yet another hallway, a passing maid caught Luka's eye.

"Have you seen Miku?" she called to her. "Please, you _have_ to tell me."

The maid blinked. "Oh, do you mean that teal-haired girl you brought today? Why, yes, I believe she just went out, Signora."

Horror spread through Luka like a plague. "Did she say where?"

"I'm afraid not, Signora. She was in an awful hurry, though – I'm not sure you'll be able to catch her, to be honest. Perhaps you'd best wait till she gets back."

"I can't do that."

"Why not? Is it really that important?"

"Can you at least tell me which way she was going?" Luka asked, her words tense and panicked.

The maid thought a moment. "It looked as if she was going the same way you had left, Signora - or at least, it did at first. Perhaps she had wanted to find you?"

"I see," Luka said. "Thank you."

Without another word, Luka ran for the door, ignoring the maid's shouts of confusion. Every muscle in her body was aflame and her heart pounded in her ears louder than canon fire. Fear and adrenaline flowed through her veins like a poison: she was all too aware of what would surely happen if she rested for even a moment, if she was the one who found Miku last.

Luka pushed the doors of the manor back open and dashed out, again entangled in the still of the night.


	15. Chapter 15

_Up to this corner_. _Go right._

Soft, rapid echoes of shoes colliding against pavement rang out in the night, each one spreading out in the air like a ripple in a pond and then disappearing forever a mere moment later.

_Turn again. Pass the next couple of buildings. Now, into the alleyway._

They trailed behind the long, teal hair of a running girl, her form soft and dark against the evening shadow.

_Go left, then right at the corner. Keep straight awhile, don't let up the pace._

She looked only forward, familiar enough with the area around her to know exactly where to go and how to get there fastest. Her mind was ablaze with only her sense of direction: it was all she could focus on to keep herself from drifting back to those thoughts which had sent her running in the first place.

_Should be another alleyway ahead – damn, closed off, just keep going, no sense in jumping the gate, just don't slow down._

The air was cool, but every breath she took burned and bit inside her lungs. Every thump of her feet against the road sent a wave of fire up her legs, her muscles growing taught and worn from her haste.

_Straight another block. Keep going, you're doing fine, just don't slow down, don't slow down..._

Her growing fatigue finally caught up with her. She gradually slowed her pace down to a stop, her breathing growing deeper as it too diminished.

_Just for a minute_, she assured herself. _I won't take long._

Miku sighed as she heard the thoughts, as if her more determined half was scolding herself for daring to conjure them. She wanted to keep going, but she was rational enough to realize that wasn't possible right now. Everyone had a limit, and it wasn't as if she was used to a lot of running all at once. Normally, there had never been much reason to hasten her pace: her time on the streets was more or less her own, so long as she could stay hidden. But tonight was different.

She closed her eyes, letting every breath of acidic, life-giving air sink in. The holster wrapped about her thigh felt tighter as her muscles ached, the small knife and revolver in it making her leg feel stiffer. Miku had strapped it on almost without thinking – the act had become such a common part of her routine before she went out – but now she wished she had left the constricting thing behind, it had grown so uncomfortable. Her thoughts began to drift back to what she had wanted to stay away from, but now she didn't feel the need to keep them from wandering. Her running couldn't distract her anymore, and besides, this was something she'd have to face sooner or later.

Luka had to know, the teal-haired girl had finally realized. She had to know that by defending Miku, she was defending her Family's greatest enemy, and she had to know as soon as possible. Miku's role in the Don's death was the final secret that hung over the two of them, and if by some slip of fate that hidden truth was revealed to Luka by someone else, everything they both had worked for would be lost. The noblewoman had done so much to protect Miku, she was swallowing so much of her pride just to see that she was safe – she couldn't stand to let all that go to waste just because she hadn't had the courage to tell the truth.

Before, Miku had stayed her tongue because of the other woman's trust in her Family, because she knew that admitting her crime would drive them too far apart, or maybe even against one another. But now that that trust had been shattered, there was finally room for the confession: she could have easily lifted the last curtain then and there, but the abruptness of this change in Luka's loyalties made Miku hesitant. She had just been too struck by the horror behind that sudden hatred to act at first; too consumed by shock to think clearly; too wracked with guilt at knowing Luka would stay with her betrayers, would go against her deepest principles solely for her sake to even imagine burdening the noblewoman with another horrible new truth.

And yet, some darker part of Miku wanted to be relieved or even to celebrate at the revelation, to feel freed from the shame that had used to come with the memory of the act: she had still killed Luka's _capofamiglia_, but now all it meant was that she had just disposed of a murderer, a brute who had done away with a young girl's parents simply to gain an extra bit of wealth. Now Miku was guilty of nothing more than an act of revenge, or at the very least a crude form of justice. But somehow, knowing even that made the cacophony of shame inside her ring louder: even though she now knew that she had killed a demon and not some honorable luminary, rejoicing at the discovery meant rejoicing at the murder of her lover's only family.

In the end, it felt as if the discovery could easily mean a new, terrible barrier between the two of them if Miku were to unveil the secret she still withheld. After all, if Miku had revealed the truth just after that new knowledge had been brought to light, it would've made her a coward, a lowlife incapable of confessing her sins until the fear of punishment was gone. As true as the condemnation was, she couldn't let Luka know that: even though the noblewoman had stayed with Miku so far, despite all that she'd learned about her, such cowardice might truly be enough to finally push her away. And so, the chance Miku could have found in that instant of revelation had died just as quickly as it had been created. The moment was too volatile for any clarity to be found, and she had been too frightened to say what should have been said.

But now, surely, the dust had settled somewhat, and her confession could be accepted, not rebuked. Even if it wasn't, Miku couldn't stomach letting the secret go unsaid any longer. She wanted this burden off her shoulders as soon as possible, yes, but far more vital was Luka's safety, as by withholding that knowledge Miku knew she was putting her in unnecessary danger. Associating with an assassin, let alone the one who'd killed a _capofamiglia_, couldn't end well for Luka if the wrong hands were to make the accusation, and the noblewoman would be at a severe disadvantage if she wasn't even aware she'd committed the crime. For her own sake, she had to know just who it was she was protecting, even if it meant she could protect her no longer.

Taking one last, deep breath, Miku brought one foot in front of the other and built back up to her previous pace as quickly as she could. She had barely started running again when she suddenly noticed the sounds of other footsteps echoing in the nearby streets. They were loud enough to be coming from several or maybe even half a dozen people,and their tempo was staggered and hurried, as if they shared the teal-haired girl's hurry. Miku frowned. It was unusual enough for a large group to be out at this time of night, but for them to be in such a rush was even more suspicious. _Familiari_ was the easiest conclusion, but Miku wasn't entirely sure what a group of them would need to be out so late for. Perhaps there was some criminal out on the loose that needed more than a single assassin to be brought down.

She continued forward, trying to put the distraction out of her head and focus on where she was going. Physical speed was hardly her forte, so she instead had to rely upon her sense of direction to have any hope of finding Luka soon. A few more buildings flew by, but then the footsteps found a reason to distract her again.

They had begun to sound behind her.

Instinctively, fear flared up in Miku, and she quickened her step, only for the rapidness of the echoes behind her to increase. Her fear turned into an outright panic: these people, whoever they were, were following her, and she had no clue why. Unless...

_What if... I was too late?_

She ducked into an approaching alleyway, taking the brief opportunity to peak out from behind the corner at her pursuers. There were six of them, all young men dressed in suits, their faces cold and stern. One at the front, with blue hair and a flowing scarf about his neck, shouted something at the others and pointed where Miku had hidden herself. In the dim light of the street lamps, a cold glint of metal shone in their hands as they raised their arms towards the alleyway, and suddenly, half a dozen gun barrels blinked at her from afar.

Miku's pulse quickened and her throat tightened, every previous thought vanishing in an instant. Summoning up every ounce of her energy she turned and ran, emerging out into an empty street just as a cacophony of deadly thunderclaps rang out behind her.

She ran for the end of the block, her heart pounding, her head shaking, her hands sweating a cold sweat. The pounding sounds of pursuit were growing louder, their echoes coming from every cobblestone. In a single motion, Miku drew her revolver out from under her skirt and gripped it tight, her finger tensely wrapped about the trigger. She almost smiled: it seemed her old habits still had some use after all.

The road flew by under Miku's feet and she turned an approaching corner, the echoing footsteps around her growing louder still. Instinctively, she glanced over her shoulder, and her eyes went wide. Two men were behind her, running, gaining on her, their revolvers staring straight at her even as they moved. She dug her feet into the ground, halting herself, and spun on her heels to face them. Two shots roared from the steel in her hands, and two screams echoed off concrete and stone as the men dropped their weapons and clutched their shoulders.

Miku took off again, her ears ringing with her pursuers' shouts and curses. Building after towering building passed like bricks in a road, until finally another alleyway revealed itself. She leapt into it, landing crouched in the darkened space. On the other side the footsteps still rang, but they were louder here – too loud. Miku looked up, and dread closed in tight about her throat: another man was standing at the alley's mouth. Their eyes met, but Miku saw surprise, not satisfaction. He was off-guard. Some luck at last. Miku raised her gun and squeezed the trigger, but the man still stood – the bullet had claimed a window behind him instead. Instantly he brought his own weapon up, his surprise turning to flames. Miku steadied her hands – another shot, but this time there was a cry of pain and the man's knees finally crashed to the ground.

She turned back around and ran out into the street. Her legs were almost numb, yet every step she took sent waves of pain up through her bones. The air had begun to grow quieter, and the roads had grown more narrow. Miku slowed to a walk and stopped in the small space between two buildings, her breath still eluding her. Suddenly, a shot rang out from above, and a sticky warmth ran down Miku's cheek. Her head snapped up: two darkened silhouettes loomed on a rooftop across the street. She jumped backwards into the space and pressed her back against the concrete. Two more shots screamed out, each leaving a tiny crater in the wall in front of her. Miku dropped to the ground and fired, and the gunman on the roof collapsed. She drew a breath of relief, taking a moment to stand upright. Suddenly her stomach twisted in realization. _The_ gunman. There were two before.

She peaked further out, glancing over every bit of her surroundings for where the other had gone but not daring to leave her cover. Suddenly, behind Miku came a soft _tap_. She whirled around, her instincts screaming at her, and fired again. Crimson burst forth from a man's head and his body slumped backwards, his gun dropping from his limp hand.

Miku leapt over him and ran, not sure where she was going, not even sure where she was. There had to be a safe place, somewhere, anywhere, just to hide for a few minutes. Other hurried footsteps still echoed, softer now, but Miku still couldn't tell where they were coming from. The road curved, straightened, branched off, and separated, and the buildings became more and more ruined as Miku went on. A large one, taller than the others, appeared past the next corner, its cracked windows and crumbling walls screaming its abandonment. Perfect. Miku hastened towards it, the echoes of pursuit still pounding into the night like a hammer, but she didn't have the time or the focus to linger on them. A space opened up between two approaching houses. An opportunity, surely, a blessing. There were usually routes behind buildings to the bigger ones: this might be a faster way in, a safer way in. No, it _had _to be faster, safer – staying out in the open like this was too risky. The gap came nearer and Miku turned into it. Just a few moments of rest, a few minutes hidden away, surely they'd lose track of her, and then –

A tall steel gate stared Miku in the face. She grit her teeth, inwardly cursing at herself. There wasn't time to climb this now – it was too high, she was too out of breath. She whirled back around, and her breath caught in her throat. Standing in front of her was yet another one of the pursuers, their apparent leader. His face was covered in shadow but Miku could tell his expression was cold, deadly, dark. In his hand was a raised pistol, and a sword clinked at his side as he slowly stepped forward. Miku's arms jolted upward, and she pulled back on the trigger again.

_Click._

The hollow sound ricocheted off the constricting walls softly, like a pebble bouncing down a well. Miku's eyes went wide with horror: her six shots were spent. The hunter's face flashed momentarily with triumph. He stowed the gun, still inching forward with an imposing gait, and drew out the sword.

"Nowhere to run now, is there?" he sneered. His voice was close, too close, another wall closing in.

Miku shoved her revolver back in its holster and ran at him, her every muscle guided by nothing but adrenaline and panic. The man caught her by the wrist, his grip cutting to the bone, and threw her to the ground. The crash sent a million shocks through her torso, and her head struck against the gate with a nauseating explosion of agony. Her spine was screaming, her neck went stiff, her vision went blurry, and the touch of pointed steel suddenly snarled at her throat.

"You _assassins_," the growling voice came again. "You're all nothing without your sneaking, your disguises. The moment you have to face real danger, you all crumble, don't you?"

Her vision cleared a bit. The hunter was standing over her, the arm that held his sword stiff and poised.

"Or maybe that's just you, Signorina Hatsune. Perhaps you're just a true coward among cowards." He smiled a cruel, disdainful smile. "Yes, _Signorina_, I know who you are, and I know what you've done. But you know, I still want to hear _you_ say it. Go ahead: admit your crime."

His voice was frigid and sharp, an acid that pulsed through Miku's veins and infected her with a suffocating fear. The blade barely grazing her skin killed every word in her throat before it could even be born.

The man's smile faded. "I told you to confess. If you have a single ounce of courage in you, speak up, _now_."

The teal-haired girl kept silent, her thoughts as frozen as her body. The ground she was trapped on was nauseating, the gate she was stuck against a demon ready to tear her flesh.

"Fine," the man snarled. "It's not if you would've changed anything. You committed the foulest crime in the world, Signorina, and now you're finally going to pay. You killed Don Marciano, and for that, you will rot in Hell. Maybe there you'll get half the punishment you deserve." He smiled the hideous smile again. "What a shame you didn't confess when you had the chance. I've heard you have such a lovely voice."

"And you're not going to silence it, Kaito."

Miku glanced upward, almost not believing the voice she'd heard. The sound was angelic yet wrathful, enough to wash the infectious terror out from her. The hunter's face grew perplexed, and he looked over his shoulder at the tall, pink-haired woman standing behind him.

"Luka?" he asked, the frigid edge in his voice gone. "What are you doing here?"

The noblewoman's face was a stone mask. "So it seems you've tracked down the assassin herself. I shouldn't have expected anything less from you."

"You almost sound upset about it," Kaito said, still confused.

Another sword unsheathed. "I can take it from here," Luka said quietly. "You have more important matters to attend to, Kaito."

"What's more important than slaying the Don's assassin?"

"Bringing down the Family behind it all, of course."

The man blinked. "That's already being taken care of, Luka. I thought you knew that."

"Is that so?" The words sounded forced, hesitant. "I must have missed that order."

Kaito grinned widely, turning back to face his prey. "Well, it doesn't really matter. But you're certainly in luck to show up now, Luka. You're just in time to see the end of this rat."

Luka's sword rose to point straight at the back of the man's neck. "I think not."

The air was plagued with stillness for a moment as Kaito's eyes filled with a disbelieving fire. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Put your sword down, Kaito," Luka said firmly.

"Luka, have you lost your mind?"

"Put it _down_, Kaito."

The blade at Miku's throat quivered softly – maybe with rage, maybe with terror. The teal-haired girl was as stiff as the steel bars she huddled herself against.

"She's _my_ kill, Luka," the young man said in a near growl. "She was assigned to me, _I _tracked her down, and _I_ cornered her. What makes you think you can just swoop in here and take that honor for yourself?"

"Please, Kaito, I don't want to fight you."

"That sure as hell isn't the impression I'm getting."

"_Neither_ of us are going to hurt her," Luka said, her voice clear and strong. "Drop your sword. Now."

Kaito's eyes widened. "You... What are you talking about?" he shouted. "Luka, what's gotten into you?"

"You have three seconds. Please Kaito, don't make me do this."

"Make you do _what_? Just what the hell are you _thinking_?"

"Two seconds. Now, Kaito."

"This is his murderer, Luka! Do you want to just let her get away? Have you gone _insane_?"

"_One_ second."

A furious scream rang out, shattering the rigid tension in the air. The young man's sword came at Luka like a bullet as he whirled around, and the streets suddenly screeched with a clang of steel meeting steel.

"I don't care what madness is infecting you," Kaito snarled, his sword rattling against Luka's, "but I'm not going to let _anyone_ take this from me, Luka. Not even _you_."

The swords parted for a moment, and then the young man brought his blade back down, the crash of colliding metal screaming out again. Luka grunted as she fought to push it back, her form beginning to bow under Kaito's rage.

"She killed him, Luka!" he screamed over the blades grating against one another. "She's a murderer, a _coward_, and you're defending her! You're betraying everything you've ever stood for!"

Luka grit her teeth and shoved forward, hard. A grunt escaped Kaito's lips as he was knocked off-balance, and the noblewoman drove her blade at his chest. The sword barely brushed by him as he leaned out of the way, tearing the side of his jacket. He let out another cry and swung again, almost quick enough to slip past Luka's guard. The shrieks of steel rang out one after the other like hail, fast and heavy, each blow barely met by the pink-haired woman as she was slowly forced backward.

Another scream of rage rang out, and Kaito's blade grazed Luka's side as it made a long, descending slice. She let out a sudden gasp of pain, immediately bringing her own sword up to match her opponent's, but slashed only against thin air. Kaito raised his sword high above his head, his grip deadly tense, and drove the blade downward.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and his stance faltered, his knees buckling from behind. He glanced over his shoulder and stared in fury at the teal-haired girl behind him, her foot only now breaking away from the back of his leg. The man stumbled forward, his sword waving uselessly in his hand as he fought to steady himself.

A final thrust of steel flew by, and Kaito let out a short gasp. He looked in horror at the rapier through his chest, every bit of his furor melting away, and his sword clattered against the stone beneath him.

"Why, Luka?" he gasped at his killer. "You're... a _familiare_..."

The pink-haired woman was silent, a tinge of regret breaking through her stone mask. She drew the blade out of the man and he collapsed to the ground.

"You'll burn," he murmured, his voice gravelly and weak. "You'll both burn... for this..."

The alley was quiet an achingly long moment. Miku looked up at the other woman, her eyes big and moist, screaming a thousand questions with her gaze.

"How did you find me?" she finally asked.

"The gunshots," Luka replied. "It wasn't a quiet chase. But I'm sure I was also just fortunate."

"Ah." Miku glanced back down at her pursuer. "Did you really... have to..."

"Nothing I could have told him would have changed his mind," Luka said firmly.

"But, wasn't he your friend?"

The pink-haired woman closed her eyes, her stoicism finally breaking. "Yes," she murmured. "He was."

Silence hung in the air like a storm. A thin river of deep crimson had begun to flow down the cracks in the cobblestone road.

"It won't be a problem for me," Luka spoke up again. "They'll think you did it, that you killed him when he was coming after you. But that's not much of an issue, either. I'm not sure they could possibly be hunting you more intently than they are right now."

Miku was quiet a moment. "So then, you know already," she said. "That I did it. That I killed him."

Luka looked off. "Even the other Families probably know by now."

"How did you find out?"

"Your _capa_ sold you out."

Miku glanced up in surprise. "Why?"

"She thought it would take the blame off of Casa Kagamine."

"Sounds like something she'd try." Miku smiled humorlessly. "I guess I should have seen that coming."

"That doesn't matter now," Luka said. She looked the teal-haired girl dead in the eyes, her hand clasped over her shoulder. "You need to leave, now. There's no telling when more of them will come, and when they do, we can't be seen together. I'll meet you back at the manor, but please, don't let anyone see where you're going."

The teal-haired girl nodded slowly. Suddenly she wrapped her arms tight around the other woman, burying her head in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Luka," she said, her voice choked. "I'm so, so sorry. For everything."

Luka ran a hand through the girl's hair. "It's all right," she said softly. "I'll be there when you get back. But for now, please, you have to go."

Miku broke the embrace and gave another somber nod. She ran back out into the street, her form melting away into the night as she grew more and more distant.

Luka looked back at the body lying still in the street, and then at the reddened steel in her hand. She sheathed the blade and slowly walked out of the alleyway, forcing down a wave of nausea.

* * *

The streets were silent again as Miku dashed back to the manor, the roads she ran along empty and dark. She kept to back alleys as much as she could, just in case, but was finding over and over that there didn't seem to be much need for such caution. Other footsteps never reappeared, menacing shadows of armed men never caught her eye – she should have been calm, but it all only made her more tense. Anything at all could emerge from the silence, only this time she didn't have bullets to face it with.

She still couldn't shake the guilt plaguing her for getting herself further involved in all this at all, for putting herself in further danger, for hurting the most important person in her life even more. It was something she should have known not to do: she should have been trusting enough to just leave things be for once.

A peculiar smell wafting through the air broke her away from her thoughts. She took another sniff as she ran, and her eyes widened: smoke. And it was getting stronger, almost strangling the air as she dashed along the alleyways. There was light, too, a dim illumination piercing through the night with a flickering horror, and it was only growing stronger alongside the pungent fumes. Miku finally stopped near the alley's exit, close enough for her to see the source of it all: there, in the near distance, the Kagamine manor was in flames.

She leaned against a concrete wall, the sight entrancing her with its destruction. The smoke had become strangely intoxicating, spelling horror, delight, shock, satisfaction, pity – it was all too much and all too little, turning her sympathy and hatred against each other like wolves.

"Incredible, isn't it?"

Miku turned around in shock, only to see a silhouette slumped against the other wall.

"Truly a stupendous sight. Really, it's amazing what a few kegs of gunpowder and a dozen torches can do. I'm just as stupefied by it all as you are."

She squinted, taking a moment to readjust to the darkness, until finally the image smacked her across the face.

"Donna," she murmured in disbelief.

Rin smiled up at her. "There's no need for titles now, Miku. As I think you can see, I don't really have much claim to mine anymore."

"But, how did you–"

"Oh, the manor has back exits, you know that," Rin said dismissively. "They took a little while to completely surround the place, and I'd managed to slip out with a few others. It was mostly Len's idea, but for once it was the best option. Even Sonika agreed." She laughed softly. "Can you imagine? My idiot brother of all people being the one in the right. Or at least, the _most_ right. I suppose we've left ourselves without any truly _absolute_ 'right,' haven't we?"

"So, the others..."

"Shot on the way out," the blonde replied. Her smile had faded. "Len actually managed to fight off a few of them, though. Sonika couldn't claim that, of course, she never was much of a fighter. The three or four _sicari_ that survived ran off as soon as we were out. I can't really blame them. They don't have much of a reason to follow me now. And so, here I am, cowering in an alleyway like a common cutpurse. It's truly remarkable how quickly one's fortunes change."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Miku asked. "Why are you speaking to me at all?"

"You think I have some kind of grudge against you, I expect."

"I know you know this is all because of me."

Rin stared a hole through Miku's head. "Then, you really did give them our name?"

"You didn't leave me any other way out."

The blonde's expression softened. "No," she said. "I didn't, did I? That was the smartest move you could have made. You'd have been a fool to pass it up."

"And you'd still have your Family intact," Miku countered.

Rin gazed up thoughtfully. "I wonder."

"You're being awfully open with me."

"And you find that strange, yes?"

"Of course I do. I betrayed you."

"Oh, we're already even on that," Rin replied. "Of course, you probably know that already. Unless that wound you've got is just from bumping into a wall somewhere."

Miku touched the cut on her face, confirming the woman's observation. "Did you really think that would work?" she asked. "Trying to blame it all on me?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have done it," Rin said. "I wouldn't have had any of it done if I didn't think it would work." She sighed. "Perhaps Len was right after all. If you make too far of a stride forward, you're bound to fall. I thought for sure we could make it in spite of that." She looked off again. "We were living on borrowed time, you know. We just weren't making enough to keep ourselves in business for much longer. It wasn't easy to last as long as we did with the older Families always breathing down our necks, but somehow, we held out. We didn't have the strength to stand up to any of them, but we held our own, even after my father left everything to me. Len always resented me for wearing the crown, I'm sure, but he could never understand how heavy it becomes after you've worn it a few years. Hesitation is your downfall, confidence your greatest strength. That's why I had to move forward, that's why we had to make _progress_. We'd made it for so long in the face of the established Families, and so I thought we might stand a chance against them if we just used some cunning to undo them. But in the end, it seems Goliath bested us after all. Perhaps I was a fool for ever thinking it could have turned out otherwise."

"So it was all for power." What little pity the woman's speech had evoked in Miku was replaced by a wave of anger. "You put everyone in so much danger just for yourself, even though you should have known it wouldn't work."

The blonde sighed again. "Of course it wasn't just for me. The entire Family would've benefited if we'd succeeded, you know that. And it was about more than power: it was about _survival._" She looked back up at the teal-haired girl. "In this business – in this _world – _if you weren't fortunate enough to start out on top, you can either let the strong take from you or you can take from the strong. There is no in-between. This country only has so much wealth left to go around, and the worst mistake you can make is to just sit around while someone else gets to it first, or worse still, _hoards_ it while you could have taken it from them, right under their noses." She laughed. "You know, our food chain is a curious one, Miku – you never truly learn your proper place in it until you try to climb it up. And believe me, I've learned where I fit in by now. If only I'd have known sooner."

"Do you expect my pity?" Miku asked, a touch of fury seeping into her voice. "You've never been anything but a tyrant to me. You used me like a _slave_ again and again, you wanted me _broken_ – do you honestly think I'm going to forgive you now?"

"I'm not so low as to need that, my dear Miku," Rin replied. Her smile was softer now, a thin, curved mask. "I wish I could say I regret how you were treated, you know. I can't expect you to believe me, but I knew our actions for what they were. I'm by no means blind to cruelty, even when it comes from myself. It's just that I never had the luxury of acting otherwise."

"_Everyone_ has a choice!" Miku shouted.

"Certainly. Mine was efficiency or oblivion. I chose efficiency." The Donna's grin was wider, darker, more deceptive. "Any of the other Families would have used you in the same way, you know. That's why I couldn't afford to just let you go. And it's not as if you never had a choice: if you were this against it all, you should have known not to join in the first place."

Miku looked downward, her anger slowly fading. "Fine. I get it."

"I'm glad." The blonde slowly rose to her feet, using the wall behind her as a bit of support. Miku instinctively let her hand fly to her holster, but the other woman stood still.

"That's all I hoped you would get from this, you know," Rin continued. "Understanding. That's all. You never seemed to realize why exactly we seemed to lack a morality that you agreed with, no matter how your situation should have taught that to you. You see, morality is molded to fit whatever age we have been thrust into. We must either adapt right and wrong to our surroundings, or die clinging to whatever delusions of chivalry we've blinded ourselves with. A Family doesn't preach 'honor' because it is 'righteous,' you see. " She chuckled and slid a hand inside her skirt, pulling out a small revolver. "No, we preach it because it's just another means of survival. It's all our code for staying alive in this uncertain world of ours. Any 'righteousness' that we may see in it is nothing but a fortunate side effect."

The gun lowered, its barrel aimed straight at Miku's head. The teal-haired girl's grip grew tighter, her body frozen in place.

"And_ that_ is why it's not hypocritical of me to be doing this," Rin said. "This isn't because you betrayed me, no, I don't pretend that this is any sort of justice. It's just insurance. I can't very well have a trained assassin with an open grudge against me running around while I try to make my escape, now, can I? It would put me in an incredibly difficult position, and I owe it to my dutiful _familiari_ to make it out alive." She let out another short laugh. "Farewell, Miku Hatsune. For all your faults, I must say: you've served me well."

The hammer clicked. Miku rushed forward, the knife in her holster flying out from its sheath and into the base of the other woman's neck in a single swift motion. The flesh was soft and yielding against the sharp steel, and an eruption of dark red spat out from the newly-made wound as the blade plunged deep into the woman's throat. The gun fell to the ground and the Donna's eyes went wide. She glanced down at the knife and smiled again, a thick trail of blood trickling out from her curved lips.

"I suppose," she said, her voice almost inaudible, "that was poorly planned, too..."

Miku let go of the knife and the Donna crumpled to the ground. She stood over her, almost smiling herself.

"It's funny," she murmured. "Of all the people I've killed, you're the first to have truly deserved it." She shook her head. "No. The second."

Wordlessly, she yanked the blade out and dashed back down the streets.

* * *

A/N: So, this chapter took longer than I'd hoped to get out, but rest assured the next one will be quicker. Also, you might've noticed the rating changed to M - it probably should have been there from the start, to be honest.


	16. Chapter 16

The Megurine manor was quiet as Miku ran back inside, a maid or two silently lingering in the lobby, cleaning some bit of wall or piece of furniture. They glanced at the teal-haired girl as she dashed by, but their gaze was cut off as she climbed up the stairs, her journey finally ending in the almost-familiar study on the upper level.

Luka stood up from a couch as the teal-haired girl entered, her face hard and stern.

"What kept you?" she asked.

"I... ran into a few problems," Miku answered.

"What kind of problems?" Luka said, her voice tenser. "Please, Miku, don't tell me anyone saw you."

"No," Miku said. "No, it's not like that." She took a deep breath. "The only person who saw me was my _capa_."

Luka's eyes widened. "She escaped?"

"She got lucky, I guess. Very lucky."

"Does she know where you were headed?"

"No."

"Are you certain?"

"I'm certain."

"Even though she saw you?"

Miku looked off. "I'm certain because I killed her."

The fear across Luka's face vanished, suddenly replaced with a quiet surprise. Miku looked back at her, unsure of the expression.

"Should I not have?"

"That's not it," Luka quickly said. "No, that was the best thing to do. For what she did to you, for what she could have done later..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just... hard for me to think of you that way."

"Even though you know what else I've done?"

Luka smiled faintly, joylessly. "Yes. Even though I know that."

The teal-haired girl was silent a moment. "How do you feel about it?" she spoke up. "About your old _capo_'s death. Now that you know all he really did, I mean."

"I don't know," Luka said. "To be honest, I haven't been giving it a lot of thought recently. It doesn't seem to matter much anymore."

"Is that really all you're feeling about it?"

Luka hesitated. "No," she finally said. "No, it isn't, but it's all so confused, so jumbled. I'd known him as an honorable man for so long, I'd seen his death as a tremendous sin, but now there's practically no reason for me to think that way. What I respected him for is still there, but with what I know now..." She sighed. "What he hid away outweighs everything else he's done, certainly, but that doesn't mean I can just gloat at his death now. Somehow, I feel as though that would make me no better than him. It isn't as if I wish he were still alive, no – but even now, I'm not so sure that he's not worth despising." She stared at a wall, thinking a moment. "I suppose maybe it isn't all that easy to erase every bit of respect you had for someone, even if you realize that they've hurt you in the worst possible way. I don't forgive him, of course, I don't think I ever can... but that doesn't mean I can bring myself to completely hate him. Maybe I could if the Family was all that I had, but, I can't now."

"So, you're not upset with me?" Miku asked.

Luka frowned. "Why would I be?"

"I know you don't see the Don like you used to to," Miku said, "and I know you realize why I did killed him, but still, I hid something important from you. I made things harder for you." She looked away again. "I lied to you."

"Do you really think that if you'd told me it sooner, it all would have been better?"

Miku sighed. "Maybe. I don't really know. It's just that I wish I could have admitted it to you, before anyone else revealed it to you. I wish you didn't have to find out like you did."

Luka smiled, her face suddenly gentle and kind, the very curve of her lips and glow of her eyes enough to reassure the teal-haired girl.

"That's all in the past," she said. "The important thing is that we're together now." She brought a hand up to Miku's cheek, softly stroking her. "As long as you're with me, we can make it through this. I'm certain of it."

"But, your friend..." Miku swallowed. "Because of me, he's dead. Because of me, you had to–"

"We can't change that now," Luka cut in. Her smile had faded, her eyes had glanced elsewhere. "I wish it didn't have to come that, yes, but the fact is, it happened."

"So what do we do now?"

Luka brought her hand back down, her face growing more serious. "Now, I don't think we have any other choice but to leave the city." Her eyes grew still more downcast. "No, we'll have to leave the country, even. I should be able to pull a few strings and get us out unseen, but we'll have to go first thing tomorrow, as soon as things have calmed down."

"Is that really all we can do?" Miku asked, shocked. "Luka, you'd be leaving everything behind! Your Family, the manor, everyone you know..."

"If you stay here, you'll have to be hidden, Miku, completely hidden," Luka said. "If the wrong person sees you, even once, it could mean my Family will know where you are, and once they know that, they'll stop at nothing to hunt you down. You aren't safe here or anywhere else where Casa Marciano has even the slightest influence."

"But, would it really be all right with you?" Miku asked quietly. "You'd lose everything, just for me. Would that really be all right?"

"...I'd be lying if I told you I'm not having second thoughts," Luka admitted. "It's hard for me to think of leaving my _capa_ behind, let alone everything else. She was- maybe still is - my oldest friend. She was the one who truly made me feel as if I had a family again after my parents died, she was always so kind and understanding... Even if she condoned what the Don did, she's important to me." She looked back at Miku, smiling that gentle smile again. "But if it means staying with you, I'll leave even her behind."

Miku almost wanted to ask again, to have the other woman confirm the promise, but the look in her eyes spoke far louder than the teal-haired girl needed. Slowly, Miku leaned in and brushed her lips against the other woman's, and a wave of fire washed over her. She pulled back an inch, Luka's breath embracing her with a feathery touch as their lips parted, and then they reunited, deeper this time. The pink-haired woman's touch was as warm and soothing as sunlight, her embrace subtly drew Miku in closer. The girl wrapped her arms around the other woman's tall, beautiful figure, fervently pressing herself against her soft form, her supple breasts. She met Luka's gentle kiss with a burning hunger, deepening the contact, pleading for a stronger unity. Their tongues drew close and danced against one another hurriedly, ravenously, fractions of an inch entire seas they would stop at nothing to cross. Miku's breathing ran ragged; her legs shook and she could feel the other woman melting in her arms like chocolate. She ran her hands through Luka's long, silky hair, each brush against it softer than clouds, the contact stoking the flames inside her even more. The hands on her back starting grasping at her skin, as if for some bit of stability in this fierce tempest, and they edged their way downwards, every inch of Miku they crossed screaming for more as the touch faded.

Their lips broke off from one another, both still slightly parted and panting heavily. Luka's eyes were azure seas of burning want, of total desperation, and Miku met them with a gaze of total starvation.

"Luka," she said, her lips trembling from the lingering softness, her hips quivering under the touch of the other woman's hands. "Please. More."

The other woman smiled softly and pressed her lips against the teal-haired girl's forehead. She took her by the hand, their fingers tightly interlaced, and led her down the hallway.

* * *

The bedroom door swung shut, and immediately their hands latched back onto one another, exploring every inch of each other, but any abandon from before had dissolved, any restraint mere ashes blown away by the storm brewing so strong in them both. They stumbled across the room as one and fell back onto the bed against the wall, neither daring to let go for even a moment. The mattress beneath their knees was feather-soft, yet it supported them easily as their hands went from clinging to tearing, desperately pulling their obstructive cloth off from one another.

Miku's dress finally fell to the floor, the garments beneath following, and Luka's hands finally traced across her bare skin, delicately soft against her fingers, hauntingly pale in the dim light of the nearby window. Her hair had come loose and it now haphazardly cascaded over her shoulders like a teal waterfall, yet it was still enough to steal Luka's breath out from her chest. She left a trail of kisses along Miku's neck, down to her shoulders, past her arms. She pressed her lips firmly against the girl's chest, just where her petite breasts began, while her hands gently slid along her slender torso. The girl's voice was soft, low, angelic, trickling out more and more from her panting mouth as Luka traced along her breasts with her tongue, as her lips closed about the girl and grew forceful.

The contact broke away as Luka's shoulders met with a gentle push. The burning need was still in Miku's eyes, but now the pleading was gone, replaced with a spark of raw hunger. Her hands closed around Luka's arms, rubbing, rubbing harder, and then her hands trailed to the center of the woman's shirt. The air suddenly washed over Luka's own bare skin, but the chill was an afterthought, nonexistent in the sanctuary they had constructed. Their hands traced endless circles across each other's skin as their arms snaked their way behind one another, every brush of contact rekindling the fading sensations that their absence continually left behind. Their lips reunited, aggressively meeting one another for a maybe moment, maybe a year, but Miku finally broke away, the touch doing little to quench the flames these infinite minutes had so masterfully tended. She gave a push and Luka fell, softly crashing onto the sea of blankets and pillows beneath them, and she leaned in against the pink-haired woman's soft, enticing form. Miku wanted more of her, all of her, everything; she wanted to breathe in her skin, her sweat, and her moans like a vapor and then drown in that raw lust as it expanded in her lungs.

Her lips crashed against every inch of Luka they could as they made their tremulous journey downwards, every kiss a memento, a treasure. She couldn't, she _wouldn't_ let Luka forget any of this, any of _her_, ever, no matter how quickly the feeling of each touch faded. They were carving symbols of one another in the sand at a shoreline, retracing every shape as the tide came to wash each sensation away, and Miku's every touch fought to disprove the tyrannical waters. Her hands grabbed, squeezed at the pink-haired woman's soft and ample chest, her tongue traced along her shoulders, her neck, then lower. Luka's hands had crept their way onto her back, rubbing against Miku's bare and volatile skin faster and faster as her voice grew ever so louder. The girl twitched in sheer, undulated pleasure, and her body began grinding slightly against the one below her in a desperate cry for more, more.

She slid herself even further down, her hands clearing the way for her mouth, and in a few fleeting moments she glided along Luka's stomach, her navel, her hips. Her fingers traced further still, finally meeting with an incredible warmth, soft and yielding, and her lips soon tasted what her hands had discovered. Luka's voice panted, grew staggered and louder. A thousand convulsions ran through her with every kiss, every lick. Her vision blurred, and all but the electricity coursing inside her and the softness of Miku's hair against her palms remained. She pulled herself back with all her strength and gently urged the girl's head back up. In Luka's eyes was still hunger, on her trembling lips a pleading invitation. Miku smiled in understanding, and their dance brought them both upright.

Their legs interlocked with one another and Luka's hand dove downward, meeting a deep warmth in Miku that matched her own. She circled, lingered a painfully long moment, then rubbed and finally thrust, Miku's cries ringing out like the chimes of bells. The teal-haired girl gathered her strength and matched the other woman's movements, her fingers quickly becoming suffocated by Luka's deep, scalding heat. Miku's solo became a duet, until their song was muffled by another meeting of their burning lips, their adventurous tongues. Skin desperately pressed against skin as they inched closer, hoping to join fully as they melted from the oppressive heat emerging out from their bodies, from between their enjoined legs. The bed rattled, creaked, and moaned as their motions grew quicker, their thighs shaking from the movements of their fingers, their hips rocking to suck every ounce of each other out and claim it forever.

Waves crashed, their shorelines rumbled, and their voices were muffled no more. Slowly, the pleasures faded, the warmth still lingering but the fires were extinguished. Neither could look anywhere but the other's eyes, their hands clasping one another tight, yet not tight enough. Their panting mouths formed momentarily smiles and they both toppled down onto the bed in each other's arms, the embrace their only escape from what lay outside their asylum.

"I love you," Miku whispered, her voice pained, struggling to be heard over the dreadful silence.

Luka's eyes squeezed shut and her arms wrapped about the girl tighter. "I love you, too."

"Don't leave me. Please, Luka, don't ever leave me."

"Never. I never will, never."

The heat was gone, but the teal-haired girl began to quiver again in Luka's arms. She hugged her closer still, Miku's soft sobs barely overpowering her own.

On the bedside table, a silver crescent and a golden sun sat apart from one another, but their chains were knotted together.


	17. Chapter 17

_Knock, knock, knock._

The world snapped itself back into being as Luka suddenly awoke, blinking in the soft, newborn illumination of the room. She sat up in her bed and looked over to the sleeping girl next to her, who stirred and gave a soft groan as she shuffled around in the sheets. Smiling, she brushed a bit of the girl's long, teal hair out of her face. Miku's eyes fluttered open and she groggily smiled back up at the other woman, turning over to face her but still not quite ready to sit upright, to leave this bit of contact. The room was quiet as snowfall, the silence sacrosanct in the grace of the morning sun, and the two of them sank into it like water. Words would have been useless, disruptive. The light in one another's eyes, the warmth of their closeness, was all communication enough.

And then, another soft rapping came at the door.

"Signora?" A nervous voice from outside crept into the room. "Are you awake?"

The door slowly creaked open, and the two women in bed both quickly pulled the sheets up over themselves. The round face of a young maid peeked in through the small opening, then immediately went bright red and turned away.

"I'm sorry Signora, I didn't know!" she cried.

"That's all right," Luka mumbled, frustrated. She straightened her posture, but kept the sheets in place over herself. "What was it you wanted?"

"Well, uh, you see," the maid stammered, "Signora, it's quite important, you understand, otherwise I wouldn't have..."

"Could you get to the point, please?"

"Ah, of course, Signora!" The maid hesitated a moment. "You see, you have a visitor."

"I'm not very interested in seeing anybody today," Luka said. "Could you please tell whoever it is that I'm not in?"

"Signora, she demanded to see you immediately."

Luka stiffened. "_Who_ did?"

"Donna Marciano, Signora."

The pink-haired woman's throat tightened and she gripped the sheets under her hard. "I see." She swallowed, quickly recomposing herself. "Tell her I'll be a few minutes. And don't forget to offer her some coffee."

The maid nodded and shut the door. As her footsteps began to fade away Luka leapt out of the bed, running to the wardrobe at the other end of the room and throwing on an outfit as quickly as possible.

"What's she doing here?" Miku asked, rising from the bed in panic. "Luka, you don't think–"

"There's no way she could know you're here," Luka said as she pulled a jacket on. "She can't suspect me of anything, Miku, she has no reason to. I'm sure she's just here to inform me of what's happened."

The teal-haired girl gave a slow nod, then picked her dress and undergarments up off the floor, beginning to slip them back on.

"Yes... you're probably right," she said. "But, this feels _wrong_, Luka. I don't trust this at all."

"Neither do I," Luka said.

"Then, shouldn't we do something? Why don't we just leave the city _now_?"

"I have to make them believe that everything's normal, or they'll become suspicious. Leaving without even speaking to my _capa_ would just give them reason to follow us, and if we're pursued, settling down somewhere else will become that much more difficult. Trust me, Miku, Diplomacy is our best way out of this." Luka put her hands on Miku's shoulders, firmly looking her in the eyes. "Now, listen to me: you need to stay here and find a place to hide. The wardrobe should work well enough, but don't come out until you're certain I'm back in the room. Even then, you should be armed – did you get a chance to reload your gun?"

"No."

"There should be some spare bullets in the bedside table drawer – use those. For all we know, when she arrived she could have sent somebody into the manor to search for you while I'm occupied. It's unlikely,_ very_ unlikely, but we can't afford to take any chances."

"All right," Miku said quietly. "But, you'll be protected too, won't you? They won't... hurt you, will they?"

"I can't see that they'll be able to find any reason to," Luka said. "Remember, I'm still in my Family's graces. I admit there might be some tension between my _capa _and I now, but she still has reason enough to trust me." She went to the door and opened it, making to leave the room.

"Shouldn't you bring your sword?" Miku asked, worried. "I mean, you said we shouldn't take any chances..."

"It wouldn't be very diplomatic of me to carry a weapon in front of my _capa_ in my own home," Luka said. "Don't worry. I just won't give them any reason to fight me."

Miku gave another hesitant nod and ran to the bedside drawer, rooting through it for a spare bit of ammunition.

"You're sure I won't have to use these, right?" Miku said, holding up the few bullets she'd found. She glanced at the floor, her eyes hesitant, guilt-ridden. "I mean, already, when I was being chased, there were five that I..."

"It'll be all right," Luka said. "I promise."

"...All right," Miku finally responded. She loaded the revolver and opened the wardrobe, ready to climb inside.

With a long breath, Luka closed the door out of the room, striding down the halls with as much confidence as she could muster.

* * *

"Good morning, Lily," Luka said as she stepped into the lobby. The blonde was standing alone at the entrance, just past the door. "I take it you've already had your coffee this morning?"

"Yes, but it was kind of you to offer," Lily replied. "Although, to be frank, I'm not sure such formalities will be necessary; I don't think what I have to say will take all that long."

"Then, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

The Donna's expression was stern, somber. "It's a visit I wish I didn't have to make, Luka, but... well, it's something that has to be done now." Her stare grew a little harder. "Kaito's dead."

Luka swallowed, dearly hoping some bit of shock showed on her face. "My God."

"We found him in an alleyway, not too far from where the _sicari_ he'd been leading reported they first found the assassin," Lily continued. "Two of them were killed in the chase, too, and the others were wounded something terrible. It seems this Hatsune character is more dangerous than we gave her credit for."

"I can't believe it," Luka said, as appalled as possible.

"But you know," Lily said, "there was an unusual thing we noticed when we actually went to examine the bodies."

Luka's pulse quickened slightly, but she ignored it. She was just imagining things, surely.

"It was the strangest thing," the Donna continued. "You see, the two _sicari _who met their ends, along with the three who were only wounded, all had nothing but bullet wounds to account for their injuries. This much makes sense, of course. The survivors reported that Hatsune attacked them with a gun."

"Then, where's the problem?" Luka asked. Her throat had gone dry, and the nervousness seeping into her was getting harder to shrug off.

"The problem, Luka," Lily said, "came to us when we examined_ Kaito's_ body. You see, despite what happened to the others, Kaito died, of all things, from a _stab_ wound."

The pink-haired woman swallowed hard, desperately fighting to keep her expression neutral. "I fail to see what's so strange about that, Lily. It isn't as if assassins never carry blades of any sort."

"Oh, certainly," Lily said. "But the thing is, Kaito was stabbed through the _front_." A joyless smile flashed across her face. "Something of an odd place for an assassin to land her fatal blow, no? Not to mention his clothes were torn in places, suggesting that he had the chance to fight off his assailant. Don't you find that curious? Considering Kaito's skill with a sword, it simply seems unlikely that a mere assassin, one presumably armed with nothing more than a dagger, would be able to best him in open combat."

"Is there something you're trying to say, Lily?" Luka asked, her voice growing tenser.

"It just looks strange, is all," the blonde said flatly. "Kaito was killed in a sword fight while pursuing an assassin, yet we have little reason to believe the assassin herself would have been capable of actually overpowering him."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that it almost seems as if someone interfered with Kaito's pursuit, someone with desperate enough a motive to have him killed." Lily's eyes flashed like lightning. "And that's made all the more curious by the fact that someone who quite possibly_ could_ have bested him recently expressed to me a notable interest in keeping his target safe."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Luka demanded. "You don't honestly believe that I would–"

"No," Lily interrupted. "No, Luka, of course I don't. What evidence that's available seems to incriminate you, yes, but the fact is, I've no right to make any sort of definite accusation towards you. All of the facts against you are circumstantial, nothing more, and that hardly makes it just or even logical to convict you." Her expression grew softer, slightly so, yet her eyes still shone with a piercing glare. "But more importantly, Luka, I don't _want_ to accuse you of this, because I don't want to believe that you're capable of something so horrific. After all, you and I both know you'd never go behind your Family's back like that." She took a slow, lingering step forward. "Right?"

"If that's the case, then perhaps you should lessen this open hostility of yours," Luka said. "I don't appreciate being accused of treason in my own home."

The blonde sighed. "You don't see it, do you? I was giving you a way out, Luka. A way to redeem yourself for what I _do_ know you've done."

Luka's eyes grew larger. "I've no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me!" Lily snapped. "These are trying circumstances I'm forced into, but I'm being as negotiable as I possibly can with you. The least you could do is give me a bit of courtesy."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know _exactly_ what I mean," Lily growled. "I mean the assassin, Luka. Hand her over."

Luka's blood suddenly ran cold, freezing over alongside the constricting air in the vast, empty lobby. Her mind blared a cacophony of terror, of panicked screams, but she finally forced the tempest down.

"You don't honestly believe that I have her here, do you?" she said.

"I don't 'believe,' I _know_. Now stop testing my patience and tell me where she is."

"I wouldn't interfere with this, Lily, I told you that. You're being irrational – it's not like you to make such baseless accusations."

Lily's eyes grew dark. "I thought you knew by now that I don't make 'baseless accusations,' Luka." She opened the door behind her, turning towards the outside. "Iroha, come in, please. The rest of you follow."

A few suited men silently stepped into the foyer, blades and revolvers at their sides. In front of them stood a short, pink-haired girl, dressed in a white apron and a black dress.

Luka's breath caught in her lungs. Not just a black dress. A maid's uniform.

"Good morning, Signora Megurine," Iroha said. Her voice was calm and soft yet it cut through the air, drawing blood with its razor-sharp edge. "You know, I really must tell you that you don't keep your spare uniforms very well guarded. I found this one simply by rooting around a closet in one of the halls. But I suppose I'm more surprised that neither you nor any of your other servants seemed to notice there was an intruder among your staff. Were you simply too unnerved from the commotion of that night to notice, perhaps?"

Luka looked up at the Donna, her fingers tearing into her palms, her arms trembling with rage. "You sent _her_ in here?" she growled. "You fell so low as to actually send a _spy_ after me?"

"After what you said last night, I couldn't take any chances," Lily retorted. "And clearly, I had every reason to be suspicious. Perhaps you could elaborate, Iroha?"

"Certainly," the pink-haired girl replied. "Late last evening, I saw a young woman with long, teal hair walk in through this very door, her physical appearance matching exactly the one with which Donna Kagamine described Signorina Hatsune."

Lily's eyes were pools of ice. "Well, Luka?"

"I tell you, I don't know what she's talking about," Luka said, almost snarling in frustration. "I never saw Hatsune here."

"I find that incredibly hard to believe."

"Why not? She could have simply stolen in here for a few hours, then ran off when things quieted down."

"That's the most troubling part, Luka," Lily said. "You see, she came in through the _front_ door. I know she couldn't have just sneaked in. You _wanted_ her here, didn't you?"

Luka's lip quivered, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. Every pair of eyes in the vast lobby pierced through her, burned into her, silenced her with fiery inquisition.

"I know she's here," the Donna repeated. "I know you're giving her shelter. Now please, Luka, make things easier on the both of us and just hand her over."

"How can you ask me to do that?" Luka said quietly. "You want me to betray _her_, of all people?"

"Don't be a fool!" Lily shouted. "She's got nowhere to run now. We'll find her with or without your help; there's no need for you to go down with her. Do you really think she'd want you to sacrifice yourself like that?"

Luka glowered. "How strange to hear you speak of sacrifices again, Lily. After last night, what right do you have to use the word at all?"

The blonde clenched her teeth. "That has nothing to do with this."

"Does it really?" Luka asked in a near growl. "You said you can't defend what your father did to keep his power, yet you wield that same authority so willingly."

"I am only doing what is needed of me."

"Yet it's exactly what he'd be doing if he were alive."

"That doesn't make it wrong."

"How can you believe that? You're following a legacy of bloodshed."

"I'm following nothing but _justice_!" Lily screamed. Her eyes burned, and her voice smoldered even as it grew quieter. "My father was not a perfect man, no, perhaps not even one to be emulated, but he left me with a responsibility that I know I can use for the benefit of all. Without power, _my _power, there is disorder, and in such a state no one can prosper. By punishing those who would disrupt the Family's authority, yes, I _am_ doing what my father would, but I am also upholding the peace he has established. How can you think I'm some kind of butcher for that?"

"I don't," Luka retorted. "I simply think you're the greatest hypocrite alive."

"You call _me_ a hypocrite? You cling to the deaths of your parents, yet condemn me for seeking to avenge my father."

"The Don killed for the sake of greed, but Miku killed because she had no other choice. There's a difference."

"And because of that, you think this murderer should be spared? Because of that, you leave behind everything you've ever stood for?" Lily's eyes flared with rage. "Have you forgotten how you once followed my father's name just as loyally as I, Luka? You're just as much a part of this as I am."

"You can't be so blind as to actually think that."

"Are you truly so impudent as to think that you now have the right to rebel against your own Family? Do you still mean to say these revelations make your past oaths invalid?"

"A contract based on deceit is no contract at all. This is an organization that murdered my parents – what right do you have to keep me a part of it?"

"You condemn me for not doing the impossible, Luka. The past is immutable, both this Family's and your own. The victims and the perpetrator of that crime are both dead and buried now; what justice can possibly be gained by digging up either? What good can this hatred possibly bring to you?"

Luka was quiet again, the silence only making the stares fixed on her burn deeper. She wanted to protest, to fight back, but her mind had gone blank, her tongue was devoid of any language. The rage in Lily's expression began to fade away, and her gaze slowly grew more and more pained.

"Can't you try to see this from _my_ position, Luka?" she asked, almost pleading. "Do you really think I want to do this? Think of what it'll do to the Family if we have to hunt down one of our own _cavaliere_, think of how the other Families will see us! We'll be weak to them, we'll be _vulnerable_ – doesn't that matter to you? Doesn't the future of the Family, the future of the _city_, matter to you?" Her voice became more and more choked as she spoke, as Luka stayed silent. "And won't you even think of what this will do to _me_, Luka? I've already lost Kaito and my father – now you're forcing me to risk losing you, too. Can't you realize how hard it is for me to be here like this, treating you like some kind of _traitor_? You're my best friend, Luka, I don't want to do anything to hurt you!"

"Then let Miku go," Luka said.

"You know why I can't do that."

The noblewoman nearly smiled. "You gave me one last chance. It only seemed fair that I do the same for you."

"Luka, please," Lily said. Every word she spoke was strained, painful, quiet. "This doesn't have to happen. Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to _me_, please, I'm begging you!" She swallowed, almost rebuilding her former composure. "Please. You don't have to throw away everything you've ever had for the sake of one girl, one assassin. Is she really worth giving it all up for?"

"I think you've long since shown that I can't trust your idea of 'worth,' Lily."

"And you've shown I can't trust you at all. But here I am, pleading with you still." Lily's lip began to quiver. "I'll let you go, if that's what you really want. I'll forget about everything that's happened, I'll make sure Casa Marciano never comes near you again. You can leave the city, you can stay, you can do whatever you like. You'll never have to hear from me or any other _familiare_ ever again." Her voice dropped to a near whisper. "Please. Just end this."

Luka let out a long, slow breath, her eyes aimed at the floor in front of her. "I'm sorry, Lily," she said softly, "but you've taught me too much of honor to do what you're asking of me."

She whirled about, dashing back up the stairway as fast as her legs would carry her. The suited men nearby screamed curses and immediately gave chase, the pounding of their feet a storm that filled the room. Lily grit her teeth, then turned around and threw open the doors behind her.

"Bring in a powder keg and follow her!" she shouted at the _sicari_ outside. "She's got nowhere to run now!"

A chorus of obedience followed and the men were set in motion, running back behind the gates of the manor as hurriedly as they could. Steel was in their voices, fire was in their every movement.

Lily ran her hands over her face and stepped out into the sunlight, the air tight inside her lungs, any equanimity she had moments ago crumbling to dust even as the manor grew more distant.

"You always were the protective type, weren't you?" she murmured to herself. "Always obsessed with duty, always willing to fight to the death for the ones you cared about. If only I could have taken after you, Luka, if only just a little bit. Maybe then..."

Suited men rushed into the manor through the gaping doors, a large wooden barrel in tow. Maids and other servants hurried outside in a panic, their screams and confusion piercing the vast, empty courtyard and the clouded, dimmed sky. Lily let out a long, pained breath, her stomach sinking, her limbs stiff. She shut her eyes and clasped her hands together.

"_Confiteor Deo omnipotenti..._"


	18. Chapter 18

Doors flew by one after the other as Luka dashed down the winding corridors of the manor, and all the while the breathing, the footsteps, the growls of the armed men behind her swiped at her throat like a horde of vicious dogs. The more she ran, the more she realized she couldn't mislead her pursuers – the space was too confined, the paths she could take too predictable. All she could do now was seal herself off somewhere, if only for a moment, and there was only one room where she was willing to try that.

Another hallway stretched on, then disappeared into oblivion as Luka rushed forward. The pounding behind her was suddenly punctuated by several deafening cracks of gunpowder. A bolt of sharp, metal lightning bit her arm hard, its impact almost enough to throw her off-balance. A horrible agony blossomed where the bolt landed and conquered its way upward, ravaging every nerve it crossed with a hateful violence. More lead screamed by in one direction while more and more doors flew past in the other, until finally the right chamber revealed itself. Luka threw open and then immediately shut the bedroom door in a single, swift _slam_, turning the lock the moment the portal was closed. The men outside began to scream orders to one another and the resonance of their pursuit grew louder.

"Miku, help me!" Luka shouted.

The nearby wardrobe swung open and the teal-haired girl leapt out, her eyes wide with fear but her revolver already drawn. The door began to shake and groan from violent crashes thrown against it from outside. The shouting grew louder, yet every word was incomprehensible, spoken in a language of pure rage. Luka ran to the wardrobe and braced herself against it, gesturing for Miku to do the same. She hurried to her side and they both gave a single, long shove against the wooden giant. It creaked and dragged along the floor, until at last it stopped in front of the portal, slightly muffling the pounding noises but making the door's violent spasms rattle loudly against the dense lumber braced before it. Panting, the two broke away from the entrance.

"Why are they here?" Miku cried. "How could they have known?"

"My _capa_ was more thorough than I expected," Luka grunted. Every sway of her wounded arm sent gallons of acid coursing through her veins. The door had stopped its rattling. A patter of footsteps started again from outside the room, then faded away into silence. "But we still have a chance. We'll just go out the window – they couldn't possibly have surrounded the manor already. With any luck, we'll be able to get out before they notice us climbing down."

She dashed to the bed and tried to tear the sheets out from it, but winced even from bending her fingers around the cloth.

"Come on, Miku!" she shouted. "Help me tie them together!"

Miku ran to join her, but stopped when she came near, sheer horror spreading across her face as she got a better glimpse of the other woman. "Luka, your arm!"

"Never mind that, we don't have time," Luka said. "Now come on, this is our only chance!"

"But, how will you climb down?" Miku asked, terrified. "Can you really risk trying it at all? If you fell from this high up, in _that_ condition..."

"There's no other choice now," Luka said. "Our only other way out is through the _familiari_, and we don't have the numbers to even hope of besting them."

Miku hesitated. "Then, you're still willing to fight them? Your own Family?"

"We'd have no chance against them if we tried to fight them head on. But we can't try to be peaceful with them anymore, either – they're past using any mercy on us." Luka swallowed hard. "Once we're out, it's very likely some of them will see us, but we can't let any of them know we've escaped, even for a moment. It would put us in too much danger. I'm sorry, Miku, but it's us or them now."

"You've already killed your own friend, Luka, you can't hurt any more of these people!"

A bit of tension left Luka's grip. "I know that. I don't _want_ to fight any more of them, I never truly wanted to, but if they leave us no other choice we can't hesitate to defend ourselves."

Hurried thumps and shouts began to sound again from past the door. Luka let go of the bedsheets and picked up the sword she'd left near the bed, panic seizing her tight.

"They're back already," she grunted. She dashed to the door and pressed her back against the nearby wall, readying herself. "There's probably more of them, Miku," she called to the teal-haired girl. "Maybe even enough to get in – be prepared."

Miku nodded and drew her revolver, aiming it at the doorway with only a tinge of hesitation. The clamor grew, there was a loud thud of some kind, as if something large and heavy were set down, and then the hallways grew strangely quiet. Luka frowned in confusion, unwilling to accept that she could leave her post. The silence stretched on for moments, hours, and it only made Miku's heart pound louder. Then suddenly, her eyes went wide with realization.

_...it's amazing what a few kegs of gunpowder and a dozen torches can do._

The fires of a burning mansion consumed her mind, her memory. An impulse screamed inside her, until its noise finally forced its way into her throat.

"Luka, get down!"

She ran towards the other woman, her hand stretched futilely forward as Luka's eyes grew larger. A gunshot cried out, a horrifying roar began from outside, and suddenly Miku's ears went blank, filled only with a painful ringing. The door toppled forward with a burst of crackling light and broke into a thousand pieces, shattering against the thin air like a sheet of glass. The wardrobe in front of it exploded in all directions, violently scattering its ruined hunks of wood across the suddenly confining space. An invisible titan struck Miku hard in the lungs and sent her flying backwards. The light bursting into the room grew larger, brighter, more terrible, until a sharp, sudden crash against Miku's head stole away what was left of her senses for a darkened eternity.

* * *

When the world woke up again, the room was bespattered with flames. The floor and walls were wreathed in orange, flickering heat, the window was a mess of shattered glass and fire, and the bed a few feet away was a smoldering ruin. Smoke hung in the air thick as paint, clawing its way inside Miku's nostrils and down into her throat, mixing with the taste of copper that had planted itself inside her mouth. Her hand was still wrapped about her revolver, but the steel was warmer now, almost uncomfortable even to have lying in her grip. The room focused and unfocused in rapid bursts of hellish light, and the teal-haired girl struggled to stand, fighting hard against the violent protests of her spine, the incoherence inside her head.

"Luka!" she thought she called, but she couldn't hear her own voice. Her limbs ached, wracked with a century of exhaustion, and her strength was bleeding out of her from the burns and bruises that covered her skin like cobblestone. Pain shot through her chest with every inward breath, and every exhalation left her weaker. Time and space spun together in an invisible dance, both the performers immeasurable in the smoke, the haze.

"Luka!" She heard herself that time, and she felt a lump in her throat at the sound of her own voice. She dragged one foot in front of the other and slowly brought herself over to the other side of the room, where the doorway had collapsed in a tall ruin of burning lumber. A few feet away a pink-haired woman lay still, her lower half trapped beneath a hunk of flame-licked ceiling. Miku's vision blurred again, but this time her eyes stung with salt.

"Luka!"

She gripped the obstruction tight with both hands, ignoring the scorching pain it spread through her palms, but couldn't bring the debris to even budge. The stinging in her eyes hurt worse, and moisture kissed her cheeks as it slowly slid down her face. With a piercing scream she shoved the flaming wood off the motionless woman, pressing herself against her soft, scorched body.

"Please, Luka, wake up," she begged, her voice choked. "Just wake up, please!"

The pink-haired woman's chest suddenly rose, and her eyes fluttered open. Shock wrote itself across her face as she struggled to sit up.

"Miku..." she groaned. "They didn't... they really went so far as to..."

The teal-haired girl wrapped her arms tight around Luka, pulling her in as close as she could. "I thought you'd left," she said, almost smiling. "I thought you'd left without me."

Luka smiled back and gently pushed the girl off her. Picking her sword up off the ground in one hand, she braced herself against the wall behind her. Needles of fire shot through her legs as she tried to stand, and she collapsed back to the floor. Wordlessly, Miku crouched next to Luka, who put her arms around the other woman's shoulders, and the two slowly rose up. Wordlessly, they moved to the center of the room, but every step was another thousand daggers ripping through Luka's legs.

"I guess," Miku said, "you probably can't climb out the window like this, huh?"

Luka glanced at the doorway, its opening consumed by flames and choked with debris. "And there isn't any other safe way out now. They're all outside, just waiting for us to leave." She grit her teeth. "There's no helping it. We might have a chance if we run out fighting. If we can just clear some of this rubble away, then–"

"No."

The pink-haired woman turned her head in shock. "Miku, what are you saying? This is the only chance we have left!"

"Luka, look at yourself," Miku said, the tears clearing from her eyes. "You won't be able to make it out if you actually fight. You'll be too easy a target."

"Then I'll distract them!" Luka shouted. "I'll let them go after me while you escape! Please Miku, even if I can't, you have to make it out of here alive!"

"And then what? Without your help, won't they find me sooner or later?"

"That's..." Luka swallowed hard, a sudden wetness rolling down her cheek. "I won't just let you die to them, Miku. I swore I'd protect you, I gave up everything to protect you... How can I say I've failed in that? They already took my parents, my only true family – how can I just let them take you, too?" Her words began to choke her harder than the smoke. "You're all I have left, Miku. If you fall into their clutches, they'll truly have taken everything. My honor, my parents, even my love... All burned away by the ones I was so blind as to follow, all of it gone because I served these _killers_..." Her body felt immobile, yet she shook as she spoke. "I can't let that happen, Miku! Even if it means me dying, I won't let that happen!"

"There's only one other way out of that now."

Luka's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

The teal-haired took a small step backwards. "Luka," she said, her voice confident and firm, "I want you to kill me."

The words throttled Luka like a cold wind. "What? You... you can't honestly mean that, Miku." Her muscles twitched, her eyes stung harder. "It's... unthinkable. You can't really expect me to do that, can you?"

"I meant what I said before, you know," Miku said, the faintest of smiles touching upon her lips. "I wouldn't mind being killed if it was by you."

"How can even _think_ of saying that?" Luka cried. "We can still make it out of this, Miku, there has to be _some_ way – we won't let them win!"

The teal-haired girl glanced over at the ruined doorway, the tower of flame and rubble standing in it tall, looming. "I think they already have." Her smile grew a little brighter. "But I don't want the end to be at their hands. I want my life to be yours to take, Luka, because you're the only one I trust with it. In what little time we've had together, you've given me so much. You deserve what little I can give."

"You're asking me to give up," Luka said, her voice soft, trembling. "You're asking me to give them exactly what they want. If you die, Miku, they'll have _won_, they'll have _beaten_ us."

"Maybe that's what they'll think," Miku said. "And maybe they'll even be right. But if I die to you, _I'll_ know I died with the one I love. I want to at least have that little victory over them. Don't you want that, too?"

Luka swallowed, her resistance fading. "...It's the only victory we _can_ have now, isn't it?" she murmured.

"Maybe it's the only one we ever had."

"I don't want to believe that." Smoke and saltwater stung Luka's eyes. "Everything we've done, all that we've gone through... was it all truly just for this?"

Miku took the other woman by the hand. "Maybe. But, maybe it's only for now."

The flames crackled louder, and the heat was growing dizzying. The window and doorway stood still and silent, the two of them gaping mouths that led to nothingness.

"You know, that story you told me was wrong about something," Miku said. "You remember, don't you? The one your parents would tell you?"

Luka swallowed. "How can I forget?"

"You said that the sun and the moon were separated forever," Miku said, "but the truth is, even though the Earth came between them, there still come times when they share the same sky. Despite all we let ourselves see, they draw towards one another, and when they finally meet they change all the heavens, if only for an instant. They're fated to come together by the very paths they travel, just as they're fated to separate. Even the whole world can't get in the way of that."

A glimmer of light finally spread across Luka's face. She looked up at Miku, her cheeks wet but her eyes dry.

"You're right," she said. "Somewhere, somehow, they always meet again. Perhaps all things do, in time. Even sinners like us." Her expression was calm, resolute. "But I still won't leave you now, Miku. I don't want them to be the ones to claim my life, either. I couldn't stand to see you face this alone."

The gun in Miku's hand felt heavy as a mountain. She let her smile bear some of the weight.

"Yes," she said, tears again in her eyes. "I don't want you to leave either, Luka."

Luka's sword stung in her grip, soothing, burning. She staggered a little, until she wrapped her arms back around the teal-haired girl.

"This is an end," she said, "but maybe it can also be a new beginning. After all, we share too much to be separated for long." She softly pressed her lips against Miku's forehead, the hilt of her sword brushing her back. "From the very beginning, we were bound together, yet by something far stronger than Family, ritual, or ceremony. In our own, impossible way, we are of common blood."

Miku's eyes grew moist, staining the other woman's shoulder as she pressed her head against it. She brought her pistol upwards, her smile still natural.

"I love you, Luka. Always."

The sword behind her back slid backwards, lingering over her stomach. Luka's eyes screamed with calm.

"Yes. Always."

They took a breath, smoke filling their lungs like perfume, and their embrace tightened. The room seemed to spin and flicker around them, the arms wrapped around one another their only point of stability.

The blade sped forward. A shot rang out. The burning floor turned and met the two as the strength in their limbs died away. Hands gently clutched hands and lips met lips, the embrace the softest touch imaginable. They pulled away and one small smile lingered on another, the only one it ever needed.

The flames twinkled like stars and began to blend together, the darkness of space slowly swallowing up the rest of the world.


	19. Epilogue

The sun shone through a clear sky and a slight breeze blew through the air, somewhat alleviating the incredible heat of the afternoon. The normally bustling marketplace was even fuller today, the various merchants all shouting advertisements in the hopes of directing traffic towards their own stalls and their assistants struggling to keep up with the waves of customers that were drawn in. Swarms of people bustled about the square, some blocking the flow with their haphazard browsing, others hopelessly lost in the crowds.

A lone teal-haired woman fought her way through the hustle and bustle towards a vegetable stand. The man operating it noticed her, smiling as she approached.

"Well, well!" he exclaimed. "I thought you'd _never_ show up, Miku! Goodness knows I need some business on a day _this_ slow!" He gestured towards several nearly-empty crates of produce and shot her a triumphant grin.

The young woman laughed. "You always told me I'm where half your profit comes from, Giuseppe."

"You're the most consistent source, I'll give you that. So, getting the usual today?"

She put a finger to her lip, thinking. "I think I'd like a couple of artichokes too. There's a new soup I've been meaning to try."

"You're the boss," the merchant replied. He gathered up a few tomatoes, onions, leeks, and artichokes into a basket, and placed them in front of the young woman. She took the produce into her bag, handed the man a few lire, and walked off.

The breeze sweeping through her twin-tailed hair, Miku leisurely made her way through the crowds, scanning over them as she went. There was always something magical about a busy marketplace. The energy and commotion in the air gave her a little thrill, and she loved seeing all the various faces that the day had brought. There were men and women, young and old, shuffling about the square in pairs, in trios, some by themselves; there were parents holding the hands of young children, the touch practically a lifeline in the thickness of the crowd, and a band of street musicians filling the air with the plucks and strums of smiling strings. She grinned as she took it all in. There was a kind of spell in this gathering, a sort of magic in the fullness of the place. It never ceased to amaze Miku how so many people could assemble so individually like this: every single person had their own agenda, their own little universe inside, yet they were still part of something greater than themselves, if only in spectacle. Everyone was performing their own dance of their everyday life, yet somehow, here, they all managed to come together in a grand, synchronized ballet.

Miku looked about a little more, then suddenly stopped as her gaze crossed a nearby antique stand. Browsing there was a young, pink-haired woman, noticeably taller than average, dressed in a blouse and jeans and wearing a satchel over her shoulder She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Miku felt an incredible air of mystery around the woman even at this distance, but it wasn't so much daunting as enticing; just looking at her made Miku's head swim with questions, formless and almost unintelligible. But there were also sudden desires, rich and deep, ones she'd known before only from Petrarch. She wanted to silence them, to just go about her day, but the strange allure of the woman blared on and on no matter how much discipline Miku exercised on herself. The mere sight of her filled Miku with joy, with curiosity, with hope, and above all with uncertainty. The woman was a muse who'd descended to Earth, an Immortal from a world millions of miles away from the one Miku knew.

And yet, there was something strangely familiar about her.

The teal-haired girl navigated through the crowds to the stall. She wasn't normally one to talk to strangers in the marketplace, but this almost unbearable curiosity was making her forget any semblance of routine she could have fallen back on.

"Excuse me," she asked in a small voice.

The pink-haired woman turned to look at her, a look of surprise on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm sorry, but..." Miku fidgeted a little. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" She felt a wave of nervousness crash into her as the other woman's expression became puzzled. "You just... seem familiar, is all."

"No, I don't think so," the taller woman said, still confused. "Is that all you needed?"

"Um, well," Miku stuttered, "I just felt curious at seeing you, somehow, because... Well, I don't really know, to tell you the truth. I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to bother you..."

"Oh, no, it's all right," the taller woman said reassuringly. "Maybe you've gone to the museum recently? I mean, I work there, so it's possible you just saw me in one of the galleries or something."

"Yeah, I guess that's probably it," Miku said, her voice still quivering a little. "It's just, I don't normally see someone I recognize in this place, so, I guess I just thought..."

"It's fine, really," the taller woman said. She took another look at Miku and furrowed her brow. "Although... It's strange. You seem familiar, too."

"Well, if I saw you before, wouldn't you have seen me?"

"Perhaps. But for some reason, now I'm getting the sense that's not it. Do you live around here, maybe?"

"Sure, just around–" Miku stopped herself, laughing a little. "Sorry, I don't even know you and I almost gave you my address."

The taller woman smiled. "Well, then we ought to introduce ourselves. I'm Luka. I don't suppose that name rings a bell?"

"It... does, actually. Just a little." The shorter girl pondered for a second, then looked back up at the pink-haired woman. "Well, my name's Miku. Nice to meet you."

"Hm... Miku..." Luka tapped a finger on her cheek. "I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before..."

Miku gave a nervous laugh. "It's probably just a weird coincidence. Don't worry about it." A glimmer of tarnished jewelry caught her eye, and she glanced down at the the table in front of Luka. "Wow, were you planning on buying _those_?"

"Oh, you mean these?" Luka asked as she held up a pair of matching pendants. "Well, they're certainly beautiful, aren't they? Maybe not in the best of conditions, but really, it's what they _represent_ that's important."

"A sun and a moon," Miku murmured to herself, pondering the other woman's words. "You mean, what they represent artistically?"

"No, I mean historically," Luka replied. "These look to be from around the time of Family rule, and see, that's significant because these might give us a better idea about the upper-class culture of that period." She looked back at Miku, a little embarrassed. "I'm a bit of an expert on this sort of thing. Or, at least, I'm really interested in it. All right, I _do_ admit I'm more interested in these as a collector than as a scholar."

"'Family rule'?" Miku asked, puzzled.

"You know, the organized crime groups? The ones that rose up during the economic collapse, after the shift from feudalism?"

Miku shook her head. "Sorry, I really don't know. Maybe they mentioned them in my history classes, but to be honest, I never really paid much attention in those. Plus I'm in the conservatory now, so I don't really use that kind of information all that much..."

"Well, I suppose it's to be expected," Luka sighed. "It's a topic that isn't given as much attention as it should. Sure, the period may have only ended some eighty years ago, but it's still a vital part of the country's history."

"Really?" Miku asked. "Were these groups just that powerful?"

"The evidence is a little muddy, but from what we can tell, they held much more economic sway than the actual government or almost any legitimate business of the time," Luka explained. "Of course, we do know that there was an incredible amount of corruption in the state back then, so it's more than likely that they also gained significant political power through bribery or cronyism. In a sense, they were actually trying to act like a government of their own, in addition to holding commercial monopolies."

"But, they're not around any more, are they?"

"There are other crime groups that have popped up by now, but the ones with the real sway have mostly disappeared. Their power finally started to fall after one group, the Kagamines, launched an attack on one of the bigger groups, the Marcianos. The Kagamines were wiped out in the ensuing struggle, but the Marcianos lost their old leader and two of their highest officials, which made some of the other Families see them as vulnerable. Conflicts between them broke out, which ended up inciting public revolts against the Families. Eventually, public opinion forced the government to step in, and after a series of major reforms the Families were all but wiped out, and the economy started growing again."

Miku frowned. "Is that really all there is to it? I mean, I'm not sure it was that simple."

"These things never are," Luka chuckled. "There's a story behind every rise, every fall, and every person who took part in the drama, but sadly, history doesn't have the space on its shelves for all those tales. Besides, the Families tried their best to stay reasonably underground even in their own time; by now, the only records left of them are ones written by other agents. That gives us a good sense of their power structure, a vague idea of the people involved, and accounts of their actions from an outside perspective, but most everything else is lost to time."

"That's disappointing," Miku said.

"Sure is," Luka sighed. "But, that's just the way things are. The present is a fragile thing, and it doesn't last nearly as long as you'd expect it to. If there's no one to remember what you've done, then everything from your time can just crumble away." She looked back at the jewelry, smiling. "Well, almost everything, I suppose."

"How did you know that, though?" Miku asked, genuinely curious. "When those pendants are from, I mean. There isn't a date printed on them or anything, right?"

"No, it doesn't work that way," Luka laughed. "I figured it out mostly based on the designs of the pendants, since they're actually quite similar to other late nineteenth century styles. Of course, the general wear on them is a clue, too, even though they seem to have been kept in reasonably good condition. Well, aside from these faint burn marks, but then again, it's pretty rare to find things like this without any kind of imperfection. It's all just a matter of knowing about the past, really. I guess that's why I love antiques so much. They're like a window to years gone by, our own history." She traced circles along the golden sun in her hand with the tip of her thumb, its surface smooth and cold to the touch. "It's strange, though. This pendant feels familiar, too..."

"Like I do?" Miku asked.

"Yes, but... not as 'strong,' I suppose." Luka smiled. "Probably another coincidence, huh?"

"Well, what if it's not?" Miku said. "I mean, feelings like that don't just come from nowhere."

Luka gave a short laugh. "What, do you think this jewelry's actually part of my family history or something?"

Miku shrugged. "Anything's possible, right?"

"I suppose so," Luka said. "Then, I wonder what that makes you? A long-lost childhood friend?"

"I kinda doubt it," Miku said, almost apologetically.

"Well, maybe it's not that important," the pink-haired woman said. "In any case, I don't think I can pass up a find as good as this." She called the stand owner over and handed him a few lire, then took the pendants in one hand, grinning over her prizes.

"So, what exactly do you do with these sorts of things?" Miku asked.

"Well, I'd never actually _wear_ them, if that's what you were thinking," Luka said. "They're too valuable for that. I just think they're just nice to have, is all." She chuckled again. "I know it probably sounds kind of strange, buying jewelry just to keep it around the house..."

"Not at all!" Miku burst in. "I mean, they have sentimental value, right? Being as old as they are, they must have been through a lot, or at least been around a lot. By taking them up, it's like you're letting them tell that story, just by having them with you." She frowned. "Am I making sense?"

"Perfect sense," Luka said, smiling. "You almost sound as if you've had that feeling before."

"Well, I mean, I'm sure I have," Miku said. "I can't really think of _when_, specifically, but it's something I can remember. Or at least, something I can understand."

"Are you sure you didn't pay much attention in history class?" Luka asked. "It seems you like the field more than you think."

"My teacher was pretty dull," Miku explained.

"So I take it I'm more interesting, then?"

Miku's cheeks suddenly grew warm. "Well... I guess you could say that, yeah."

The pink-haired woman grinned. "I'm flattered." She carefully slid the pendants into her satchel. "Well then, goodbye!" she said as she gave a friendly wave. "If you're ever by the museum, feel free to ask me for a tour!"

"So long," Miku said, waving in turn. Luka began walking off into the crowds, almost disappearing into them before a sudden, desperate impulse flared up in Miku, the feeling urging her forward.

Somehow, she didn't want this woman to leave just yet.

"Wait!" she shouted. Luka turned, a surprised expression again on her face. Miku glanced down, hesitating. "Would you... like to get a cup of coffee?"

Luka blinked. "Right now?"

"I mean, if you're not busy or anything," Miku said. "You could tell me more about what you do, if you like."

"You're really that interested?" Luka asked, smiling again. "It almost sounds as if you've got something _else_ on your mind."

"Um..." Miku stuttered. "Well, you don't _have _to..."

"I was just teasing," Luka laughed. "I don't mind at all. Maybe you could even tell me what it's like studying at the conservatory – I've just been rattling on about myself this whole time."

"So... it's okay?" the teal-haired girl asked. "We can go?"

"Yes," Luka replied, smiling. "I'd love to."

Miku grinned and ran up to Luka's side. The two walked out of the marketplace and further into the city, chatting as they went.

* * *

A/N:

Lire: plural of "lira," the Italian form of currency before the switch to Euros.

I'd like to give my biggest possible thanks to everyone who's been following this story, to everyone who's been leaving reviews, and to all you wonderful folks out there who've just been reading. Your support means a ton to me, and I'm truly grateful to have had it to spur me on to finish this. I hope you all enjoyed it, and that you'll be interested in sticking with me in the future. Thanks again, everyone!


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